First, Disarm the police...

I made a joke about disarming the police first if a gun ban came to the US, but that isn't as much of a joke in Britain. It seems that British police are equally anxious to keep firearms off the streets and, for the most part, see no way to do it except by leaving their guns at the station.

There was a story a couple of months back where British armed police (CO19) were sent to a London neighbourhood in response to gangland shootings. Armed patrols were sent to estates in Tottenham, Haringey and Brixton. While the tactic had been deployed “for the best of reasons”, according to Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson; “however, I believe that unfortunately there has been a failure to appreciate that this could look like a significant change of policing style".

I found this US News & World Report story--Disarming News: Why Bobbies Have No Guns (3 February 1998) that pointed out:

According to a survey by the police officers union, the Police Federation, 4 out of 5 British cops do not want to be armed. Today, 95 percent of officers in England and Wales never carry firearms, and on average police nationwide open fire on only half a dozen occasions a year. In the 30-year history of the Thames Valley Police, a southern England force with 2 million people in its district, not a single round has ever been fired at a human.

Weighing the risk. No one doubts that career criminals remain armed. And so, to outsiders, the British bobby's rejection of firearms may look foolhardy. Yet even officers who have seen handgun mayhem support the policy. Chief Constable Charles Pollard was the commander in charge during a 1987 shooting spree in the village of Hungerford, where a man gunned down 16 people. "The risks are far greater with routine arming of police," says Pollard. "If we arm up, criminals will arm up more." Senior police officers also argue that routine arming would end "policing by consent"--enforcing the law with the public's cooperation and respect.

A Story from Gloucestershire showed that the public had a negative attitude toward armed police:

The sight of policemen openly carrying guns has sparked fears among some city residents.

Reports have come in of armed police officers in Tesco car park off St Oswald's Road and during a recent rugby match at Kingsholm.

Director of Gloucester Emergency Accommodation Resource, in Southgate Street, Brian Jones, which offers help to the homeless, said: "I was concerned to see two police officers with handguns in full view walking across Tesco's car park recently.
"There was clearly no emergency and they were in no hurry.

"I do not expect to see armed police walking around in this country – I am very concerned."

Another concerned resident said they were surprised to see armed police at a recent rugby game.

"There were two policemen carrying sidearms during the Gloucester versus Ospreys rugby match at Kingsholm recently," he said.

"I have no idea why they were there or how long they were staying but they had no sense of urgency – they were just standing there watching the game."

A mother, who wished to remain anonymous, also called The Citizen to complain.

She said: "I was walking through the city centre with my 11-year-old daughter and two policemen wearing those blue boiler-suits were coming towards us.

"My daughter said 'look at those policemen, they've got guns'.

"It was not a pleasant sight as I was always proud of the fact that our police didn't carry guns."

I said in my post about rights that some rights that:

the US tends to make a great deal of rights. These rights impose the value system where they originate: the European liberal tradition, in particular Anglo-American liberalism. One finds that rights are not as much of an issue in other countries as they are in the United States.

In particular, some people do not see "gun rights" as a good thing.

It is even more interesting to see that the place where the US received its concept of rights, does not share a similar concept of "gun rights".

I prefer a disarmed and peaceful society to an armed and violent one.

That is a much better right.

British Guns

I see a lot of drivel spouted by US Gun cretins. The first being "gun rights".

There have never been Gun Rights in British Common law.

After that is the inflated "gun crime" statistic. You can find the actual UK gun crime statistics here. Note that imitation, airguns, and replica arms account for a majority of gun incidents (12569 imitation, airguns, and replica v. 4774 handgun and shotgun out of a total 17343 for 2007/08). Additionally, total "firearms" offences have been declining, rather than increasing: Source.

The British Gun Control Network has a list of Gun Incidents, which they admit is only around 10% of the figure, but they give an idea of what "gun crime" in the UK is like. You should also remember that The Gun Cotrol Network's objectives are "predicated on the belief that the interests of public safety demand a reduction in the availability and attractiveness of guns of all kinds".

You will note that the "gun" incidents listed by the Gun Control Network include: blank firing guns, replica firearms, airguns, stun guns, paintball guns, and even toy guns! That vastly stacks the deck when it comes to "gun crime". Some samples:

Cumberland News, 23 October 2009

William Musson went into the emergency department of a hospital in Whitehaven, Cumbria, and told the doctor he had a gun. It turned out to be a toy gun and he wanted to be sectioned as he had nowhere to live and no money. He admitted a public order offence of threatening behaviour and was conditionally discharged for six months.

Think of what would happen in the US if someone brought a toy gun and started threatening people! Anyway...

Northwich Guardian, 26 October 2009

Police found cannabis plants and a stun gun when they raided the house of James Wilkinson in Wincham, Cheshire. He admitted charges of cultivation and possession of cannabis and possession of an offensive weapon. He was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for a year.

Oxford Mail, 23 October 2009

Joseph Byrne, 19, has been banned from going out at weekends after he drunkenly brandished a Taser stun gun at two men in Oxford in August 2009. He had found the device on the ground earlier in the evening.


The most interesting bit of information comes from the Evening Standard, 19 October 2009

Of 985 guns seized by the police in London this year 217 were "live-firing" weapons (136 handguns, 72 shotguns, 9 sub-machine guns) and the majority are believed to be BB guns, replicas or other "non-live firing" guns.

Likewise, Police in Strathclyde, Scotland have reported that of the 1,529 reported firearms incidents between January and June 2008, 85% of the guns recovered were airguns, BB guns or replicas. In total 107 of the weapons have been seized by the Armed Response Vehicle officers and more than 100 by officers on routine patrol. The weapons were mainly being carried by young men in their teens.

The Scottish Government has launched a hard hitting campaign involving washroom ads, on-line gaming ads, internet virals, posters, leaflets, and a dedicated website to warn the population about the dangers and consequences of using air and replica guns. The adverts spell out the punishments, a fine or jail sentence, and highlight the potential consequences such as injuring or killing a person or animal or being challenged by a police armed response unit. Gun Control Network, along with other organisations including the Scottish SPCA and Scottish Target Shooting, has given its support to the campaign.




From 1 October 2007 restrictions have been placed on the purchase of air weapons and, with certain exceptions, it is illegal to sell, import or manufacture realistic imitation firearms (e.g., airsoft guns).

To be quite honest, the UK does not have the tolerance for gun crime that the US does. I wish this would change, but I do not have any hope that this will happen.

So, next time you mention how "gun crime is out of control in the UK" remember that this figure is far more encompassing than US gun crime. I mean think of what the gun ownership would be like if they added toy guns to the amount of REAL guns in circulation in the US!