BRITAIN: Gun laws that constrain only the law-abiding
Date: Feb 16, 2007 10:09 AM
PUBLICATION: The Daily Telegraph
DATE: 2007.02.16
SECTION: Features
PAGE: 027
NOTE: Leading Article
WORD COUNT: 483

————————————————————————
——–

Gun laws that constrain only the law-abiding

————————————————————————
——–

For James Andre Smartt-Ford, 16, Michael Dosunmu, 15, and Billy Cox, 15,
the hand-wringing by police and politicians over the escalation of gun
crime comes a little late: all three have been shot dead in south London
over the past 10 days. Public revulsion over such criminality is,
shamingly, blunted by the fact that they appear to be victims of ethnic
gang crime. Society at large sees it as “their” problem, not its own.
Such a view is criminally complacent.

We have, post-Dunblane, what are said to be the toughest gun control
laws in the world. They have actually proved strikingly ineffectual. Gun
crime has doubled since they were introduced. Young hoodlums are able to
acquire handguns – either replica weapons that have been converted, or
imports from eastern Europe – with ease. With no dedicated frontier
police, our borders remain hopelessly porous. The only people currently
incommoded by the firearms laws are legitimate holders of shotgun
licences, who are subjected to the most onerous police checks.

Even more disturbing is the insouciance with which guns are used. An
18-year-old Angolan refugee was sentenced to life this week for shooting
dead a woman holding a baby at a christening party, in what was
otherwise a “routine” robbery. The truth is that the laws relating
to
possession of guns are nowhere near tough enough. Possessing a firearm
carries a minimum sentence (ministers insist on calling it “mandatory”,
but it is not) of five years. That means release, in normal
circumstances, after 30 months. For those aged between 17 and 21, the
minimum sentence is three years, which means release after just 18
months. Such piffling sanctions hardly amount to an effective deterrent
to these young hoodlums. The police want the five-year minimum sentence
extended to everyone over 17 and the Government should not hesitate to
meet that request.

But more is required. In particular, the ludicrous inhibitions placed on
the police when it comes to exercising powers of stop and search have to
be lifted. So must the post-Macpherson burden of political correctness,
which makes any police officer think twice before challenging a young
black man on the street. There is a wider failure here. This Government
came to power with high hopes of ameliorating the social crisis in
Britain’s sink estates. These were “their people” and they would
be
rescued. But the fractured families, the inadequate schools, the
crippling impact of welfarism, the appalling living conditions – all
have stubbornly resisted New Labour’s lacklustre efforts. Conditions in
many inner cities have actually worsened. And what a price we are
paying.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !