This gem deserves full treatment. I suggest we send it to ALL of our politicians who vote for gun control. The fanatics will ignore it, but it might just moderate one or two of the others.
I find it particularly ironic that those who wanted to destroy the old gun culture in the UK are now faced with terms like (my emphasis), "The events of the past week have provided sobering evidence of how deeply ingrained Britain's new gun culture has become.
and . . . "Small shopkeepers, who in the past have found themselves threatened with iron bars, baseball bats or knives, are increasingly finding themselves facing handguns or even automatic weapons."
One in three young criminals is armed
Government research shows use of guns is on the rise and gangster films are blamed for making it seem 'cool'
Special report: gun violence in Britain
Tony Thompson
Sunday September 3, 2000
One in three criminals under the age of 25 owns or has access to a firearm, the Government's researchers have discovered.
A continuing parliamentary inquiry into the growing number of black market weapons has concluded that there are more than three million illegally held firearms in circulation - double the number believed to have been held 10 years ago - and that criminals are more willing than ever to use them.
The events of the past week have provided sobering evidence of how deeply ingrained Britain's new gun culture has become.
Officers patrolling the Notting Hill carnival last month said they had been prevented from searching a suspect, later found to be carrying a loaded 9mm pistol, for fear of inciting violence. Last Monday, doormen trying to break up a fight at the Epping Forest Country Club in Essex watched in horror as several revellers produced guns and began shooting at them. Two doormen were hit and seriously injured. A few hours later, a man was shot in the head during a 'road rage' row in south London.
Last Tuesday, three people were left fighting for their lives after a group of young Rolex robbers ambushed them in the driveway of their luxury home in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. Millionaire Joe Martorana had just stepped out of his BMW when two men snatched the Rolex from his wrist.
When his wife, Josephine, tried to raise the alarm, she was shot once in the back by a handgun. As she lay bleeding, the gunmen snatched her Rolex. The couple's son, 18-year-old Steven, and his girlfriend, Isabella, had heard the shot from inside the house. They rushed through the front door to confront the robbers who gunned them down. Steven was hit by a bullet in his chest, and Isabella was shot in the stomach. A few hours later, a 28-year-old man was seriously injured after being shot at a London nightclub.
Last Wednesday, Essex builder Ronald Fuller was shot dead by a moped-riding gunman who waited near his home. Fuller, who has a child, was shot twice in the head and twice in the body at point-blank range. Fuller had been acquitted of stabbing a man to death at the Epping Forest Country Club. Police have not ruled out a link between his murder and the violence at the club.
Between 1997 and 1999 there were 429 murders in the capital, the highest two-year figure for more than 10 years. At least 100 of them were drug-related; nearly two-thirds of those involved firearms. Dozens of other firearms incidents resulted in people being seriously injured. Last month eight people were wounded when a gunman began shooting indiscriminately outside Chicago's nightclub in Peckham High Street.
The picture is the same across the country. Last month a small-time cannabis dealer, Paul Rogers, was shot dead in front of his young son after two gunmen burst into his Liverpool home. In Birmingham and Manchester, police attend more than 100 firearms incidents every month. In Wales, armed police have been called into action every day this year.
Detectives say modern weapons are increasingly being held by young drug dealers protecting themselves and their territory. They fear many youngsters are being strongly influenced by the rash of British crime movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and its newly released follow-up, Snatch, which have made gangsters chic.
Small shopkeepers, who in the past have found themselves threatened with iron bars, baseball bats or knives, are increasingly finding themselves facing handguns or even automatic weapons. A study by Independent Retail News shows that a third of all attacks now involve firearms.
Lee Jasper, who advises the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, on matters of race and policing, believes that, whereas guns were once reserved for the criminal élite, they are increasingly falling into the hands of younger, less experienced criminals.
'We have a culture developed where people think it is very cool to carry a gun, and are prepared to use it at the drop of a hat. The crime has moved on from just protecting your market and your market share to doling out punishment and intimidation. And the gun is the first resort - the weapon of choice - for settling arguments.'
Government researchers are hoping to track the source of black market weapons to devise more effective ways of combating the trade.
Controls such as the banning of handguns after the Dunblane tragedy have had no effect on the number of illegally held guns that are smuggled into the country, supplied by corrupt dealers or reactivated from supposedly decommissioned stock.
Meanwhile, makers of bullet-proof vests are reporting record profits. Vest sales have quadrupled, with 60,000 snapped up in the past two years at about £400 a time.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000
