Like everyone else, I'm stunned at the slaughter in Cumbria. I don't often agree with David Cameron, but he's right to say that our thoughts should be with the victims and their families. He is also correct to say that we should not rush into "knee-jerk", populist, firearms legislation. I was once a handgun owner, but surrendered my weapons and ammunition, as required by law, after the Dunblane Massacre. At the time, I didn't think it would stop such a massacre happening again, and, to my sorrow, I was right. Nor has it prevented a rise in handgun murders; illegal firearms are more plentiful than ever. In the understandable emotional reaction to yesterday's horrific events, there will be calls for even tighter firearms legislation. I have to say: it won't work. No Act of Parliament can prevent an individual's slide into madness (such as Derrick Bird, below). Nor will it stop criminals getting their hands on firearms - or selling them to anyone who wants them.
The Killer, Derrick Bird
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The frequency of shooting sprees is higher in countries with more guns per head of the population, so gun restrictions are not useless. Many of these rampages are carried out with legally held guns, as in Cumbria. Criminal shootings with illegal guns are certainly a problem, but they don't seem to lead to shooting sprees like this.
ReplyDeleteIt is right that gun restrictions should be reviewed and I'd have no problem with them being tightened, especially for shotguns, which are more loosely controlled than other guns. We simply don't want knee jerk legislation, which creates almost as many problems as it solves, like the dangerous dog laws did.
It is quite difficult to legislate when someone just flips. I don't think that a review of firearms legislation is a bad thing and probably needs updating, but, that is not going to prevent this sort of incident. Generally this appears to be more of a one off than a trend! If it wasn't a gun then it would be a knife or something.
ReplyDeleteAeola
The trouble is that, as someone said on Radio 4 today, that does seem to be a discernable pattern in these horrible events. The USA seems to get them once a year, while we get them every 10 years or so. Perhaps tinkering about with legislation isn't the answer. Maybe we should be asking ourselves what is producing the type of people who carry out such atrocities?
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is a single reason why these atrocities happen, but I do believe that the publicity about them puts the idea into the head of the next person who flips. But with rolling 24 hour news, what can you do about that?
ReplyDeleteOne final sad postscript: I heard on Radio 4 that Customs officials estimate that 3000 illegal firearms come into the UK every week. The next person to flip will have a lot of weapons to choose from.
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