http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/10/4/202649
Britain Tightens Gun Laws Further
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000
See Britain and Gun Control: Neither Liberty nor Safety
LONDON (UPI) - Britain is tightening its strict gun laws and putting even more limits on the ownership of firearms, including imitation firearms for youngsters, the Home Office said Wednesday.
"Our overriding concern is to ensure public safety, and we believe that strong controls on firearms are absolutely essential to achieve this," Home Office Minister Charles Clarke said.
"Our firearms controls are already among the strongest in the world, and these new proposals will increase their effectiveness."
Britain was shocked into action against gun ownership after a 43-year-old man, Thomas Hamilton, gunned down 16 children and a teacher at a Scottish primary school on March 13, 1996. The shooting at Dunblane injured 12 other children and two teachers and ended only when Hamilton killed himself.
A ban on handgun ownership followed and spurred parliament to seek other ways of controlling guns.
Clarke said the new package of measures would include better controls on shotguns, tighter restrictions on the use of guns by young people, firm action against the misuse of air guns and work to tackle the use of illegal guns in crime.
"We realize that this is an emotive subject, with strong feelings on either side," he said.
"We have sought to strike a balance and to target our controls fairly and proportionately." But he said some of the measures unveiled on Wednesday would help curb the development of a "gun culture" in Britain.
The announcement of tougher gun control came despite British successes in the recently ended Olympic shooting events in Sydney. Richard Faulds won a gold medal in the men's shooting double trap, and Ian Peel won a silver in the men's shooting trap.
The new rules are the government's response to a parliamentary committee report on gun control, which recommended tough new measures, including a ban on the sale of imitation firearms to those under 18 years old.
Clarke said new controls would require those wanting to own a shotgun to demonstrate a good reason to have one.
But the government held back from introducing a total ban on people less than 16 years old using guns and rejected a licensing system for Britain's 4 million airguns, arguing that it would be too cumbersome, costly and difficult to administer.
Clarke said the government decided against a total ban on gun use by minors because that would hurt Britain's ability to compete in future shooting events.
"If we simply banned young people under the age of 16 from handling guns then we could end up in the position of simply not having sporting activity in this area at all in a few years," he said.
The new controls were attacked as too harsh by the pro-shooting lobby.
British Shooting Sports Council Secretary Pat Johnson said the tougher laws would "make it more difficult for us to produce another Richard Faulds by making it harder for youngsters wanting to take up shooting."
Clay Pigeon Shooting Association said the regulations were a smokescreen for a government that was not tackling the real problem: more criminals gaining access to firearms. Executive Director Emilio Roduna called the tighter controls "arbitrary and without justification that would penalize law-abiding people."
Police sources, however, said they were disappointed the controls did not go far enough in banning airguns.
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~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
Britain Tightens Gun Laws Further
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000
See Britain and Gun Control: Neither Liberty nor Safety
LONDON (UPI) - Britain is tightening its strict gun laws and putting even more limits on the ownership of firearms, including imitation firearms for youngsters, the Home Office said Wednesday.
"Our overriding concern is to ensure public safety, and we believe that strong controls on firearms are absolutely essential to achieve this," Home Office Minister Charles Clarke said.
"Our firearms controls are already among the strongest in the world, and these new proposals will increase their effectiveness."
Britain was shocked into action against gun ownership after a 43-year-old man, Thomas Hamilton, gunned down 16 children and a teacher at a Scottish primary school on March 13, 1996. The shooting at Dunblane injured 12 other children and two teachers and ended only when Hamilton killed himself.
A ban on handgun ownership followed and spurred parliament to seek other ways of controlling guns.
Clarke said the new package of measures would include better controls on shotguns, tighter restrictions on the use of guns by young people, firm action against the misuse of air guns and work to tackle the use of illegal guns in crime.
"We realize that this is an emotive subject, with strong feelings on either side," he said.
"We have sought to strike a balance and to target our controls fairly and proportionately." But he said some of the measures unveiled on Wednesday would help curb the development of a "gun culture" in Britain.
The announcement of tougher gun control came despite British successes in the recently ended Olympic shooting events in Sydney. Richard Faulds won a gold medal in the men's shooting double trap, and Ian Peel won a silver in the men's shooting trap.
The new rules are the government's response to a parliamentary committee report on gun control, which recommended tough new measures, including a ban on the sale of imitation firearms to those under 18 years old.
Clarke said new controls would require those wanting to own a shotgun to demonstrate a good reason to have one.
But the government held back from introducing a total ban on people less than 16 years old using guns and rejected a licensing system for Britain's 4 million airguns, arguing that it would be too cumbersome, costly and difficult to administer.
Clarke said the government decided against a total ban on gun use by minors because that would hurt Britain's ability to compete in future shooting events.
"If we simply banned young people under the age of 16 from handling guns then we could end up in the position of simply not having sporting activity in this area at all in a few years," he said.
The new controls were attacked as too harsh by the pro-shooting lobby.
British Shooting Sports Council Secretary Pat Johnson said the tougher laws would "make it more difficult for us to produce another Richard Faulds by making it harder for youngsters wanting to take up shooting."
Clay Pigeon Shooting Association said the regulations were a smokescreen for a government that was not tackling the real problem: more criminals gaining access to firearms. Executive Director Emilio Roduna called the tighter controls "arbitrary and without justification that would penalize law-abiding people."
Police sources, however, said they were disappointed the controls did not go far enough in banning airguns.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
