 Proof That Gun Control Really Works.
But surely this cannot be!
Gun control WORKS IT WORKS WE TELL YOU!!!
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LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of worried Britons are sharing their beds with a gun and nearly half of them are prepared to kill with it, according to a survey.
"Guns feature alongside baseball bats and hammers among the arsenal kept by almost one in 10 worried householders," security firm Micromark said on Tuesday, citing a telephone survey of 1,000 people.
The company said eight percent of those sleeping next to a weapon had a gun, equating to about 100,000 homes.
But a Home Office spokeswoman said barring special licenses for certain handguns and shotguns, there were only 125,000 licensed firearms altogether in England and Wales.
Crime has become a hot topic in Britain, with street crime up 40 percent in January alone and controversy mounting over a government plan for the early release of non-violent prisoners.
Women were the keenest to resort to firearms, while 44 percent of people opting to sleep with a weapon chose a blunt instrument such as a baseball bat.
"Ten percent of the women who keep a weapon choose a gun, compared to six percent of men," a Micromark spokesman told Reuters, adding that the number of people sleeping with guns was rising.
"Sixty percent of respondents believe people have the right to take the law into their own hands...and nearly half would be prepared to kill in order to protect their family," the firm said.
"These are worrying signals of a public which perceives domestic crime as spiralling out of control," said Martin Burrekoven-Kalvea of the National Neighbourhood Watch Association.
British law does not support the view that an Englishman's home is his castle. Norfolk farmer Tony Martin is serving five years in jail for shooting dead a teenage burglar in his home.
He is just one of many who have taken up arms to protect their homes, according to the poll, which found that gun ownership was 10 times higher in the country than in the city.
Meanwhile, here in the good old land of Oz....
Sunday Daily Telegrapg Sydney
Handgun epidemic plagues city
By NATHAN VASS, MATT BAYLEY and SAM DE BRITO 14apr02
NSW Police will be ordered to rid Sydney's streets of illegal handguns
as a top priority under the leadership of acting Police Commissioner Ken
Moroney.
Mr Moroney has vowed to fight the gun-scourge which claimed another life
in Sydney on Saturday morning, when two separate shooting incidents took
place across the city.
"The proliferation of handguns in the community is the biggest menace
facing police in NSW," Mr Moroney told The Sunday Telegraph.
"My number one priority is simple: get as many handguns off the streets
as possible."
An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has discovered the number of
handgun offences committed in NSW increased dramatically during the
six-year reign of Commissioner Peter Ryan.
Murders with a handgun jumped 300 per cent while shoot with intent
offences climbed 440 per cent between 1996 and 2001.
Figures compiled by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research for the
past three years show murders with handguns jumped 240 per cent, shoot
with intent offences climbed 80 per cent and robberies with handguns
went up 25 per cent.
The latest victims in the spate of gun attacks were a teenager, who was
shot dead, and two young friends injured in a separate shooting.
An 18-year-old youth was gunned down during a street brawl between up to
15 youths outside a karaoke club in Surry Hills at 12.40am.
A number of shots were fired in the brawl in Randle Street near the Ding
Dong Dang karaoke bar, seriously injuring the teenager, who later died
at St Vincent's Hospital. Police have declined to identify him until his
relatives have been informed.
About 90 minutes later, a fight in a south-western Sydney club escalated
into a driveby shooting with six rounds being fired into a group of
eight people.
A 19-year-old man was last night recovering from a gunshot wound to the
stomach in Liverpool Hospital last night, while a second man, 20, who
was shot in the foot, left Fairfield Hospital just hours after the
attack in Mt Pritchard.
"I was just standing there talking to my friend and we heard this
popping sound. I thought it was bungers," said the 21-year-old, who can
only be identified as Adam.
"Then someone said Kenny had been shot in the stomach. My foot felt numb
and I realised I'd been shot as well."
Adam, a business student at the University of Technology Sydney said he
had been
standing outside the out with friends at the Mt Pritchard Mounties Club
with friends when the shooting occurred.
"I didn't even see the car go past, they've just driven past us and
sprayed us."
The shootings are the latest in a series of gun attacks which have
shocked the city this year.
Two weeks ago Constable Glenn McEnallay was shot in the head after being
ambushed in his car in Mascot.
In February, 16-year-old Usrph Rima was killed in a cinema in Liverpool
following a dispute over a missing mobile phone.
Bureau director Dr Don Weatherburn said the dramatic increases in
handgun crime were cause for concern. "It ought to be at the top of the
list for police at the moment and I think it is," he said.
"It's a serious problem and it needs firm action. Five years ago shoot
with intent offences with a handgun was not an issue in Sydney."
But both sides of politics have ruled out a blanket ban on handguns,
which can only legally be used by police, some security workers and
licensed sporting shooters.
A spokesman for Premier Bob Carr ruled out a blanket ban on handguns.
"There are some bona fide shooting clubs that use them legally for sport
and a blanket ban would stop that and it's something we won't be doing,"
he said.
Opposition police spokesman Andrew Tink said: "The point is these crimes
are being committed with illegal handguns, not legal handguns. Illegal
handguns are traded on the black market like heroin."
Mr Moroney also called on the courts to impose tougher penalties.
"From time to time, victims and police question the appropriateness of
some penalties," he said.
The police firearms trafficking unit has seized 197 illegal handguns in
the past three years, including just 48 in 2001-02.
Mr Tink said the unit was hopelessly under-resourced and needed an
immediate injection of experienced personnel.
"I have no hesitation in saying we must make the firearms trafficking
unit the number one priority," Mr Tink said.
"The laws are in place. But the shooting sprees continue because of the
under-resourcing of the unit."
Mr Carr said the Federal Government had gutted Customs, leaving
Australia vulnerable to gun smugglers.
"I challenge the Federal Government to get serious about keeping the
guns out of the
country. The certainty is that they are coming in from overseas," the
Premier said.
Acting Commissioner Moroney said he was personally distressed to speak
to young people who told him they had to carry guns to parties "for
protection".
"They say they need guns and knives for protection. I want to tell them,
'You don't!'," the acting commissioner said.
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2002-04-16, 05:53
