February 18, 2007
Dispatch from Not-So-Great Britain, Part the Fourth
Donald Sensing points to the latest stupidity from our British cousins, commenting, "When gun-control laws don't work, the answer must be more gun-control laws."
Sensing was reacting to an editorial in the U.K.'s Telegraph, lamenting an upsurge in violence perpetrated by gun-wielding crooks.
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.
[...]
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.
The Telegraph goes on to call for more draconian police powers, as well as criticising the inability of Papa Gummint to solve all sorts of societal ills.
It's hard to disagree with stiffer sentences for violent thugs, but the reluctance to punish criminals is the least of John Bull's worries.
As Sensing rightly notes, law-abiding Brits are more likely to end up in the gaol if they fight back, than are the criminals who prey upon them, so why bother? He quotes the always-quotable Mark Steyn:
These days, even as he or she is being clobbered, the more thoughtful British subject is usually keeping an eye (the one that hasn’t been poked out) on potential liability. Four years ago, Shirley Best, proprietor of the Rolander Fashion emporium, whose clients include Zara Phillips, was ironing some clothes when the proverbial two youths showed up. They pressed the hot iron into her flesh, burning her badly, and then stole her watch. “I was frightened to defend myself,” said Miss Best. “I thought if I did anything I would be arrested.” There speaks the modern British crime victim.
It's a depressing thought, but Sensing is spot on when he says, "The British used to be a free people, but no longer."
See previous updates on the rot afflicting the once mighty U.K. here, here and here.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 18, 2007 12:07 PM
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