Calls for tighter gun control in wake of tragedy

Left Foot Forward

The home secretary today said the Government would "consider all the options" on gun laws, as the prime minister cautioned against a "knee-jerk reaction".

The home secretary said the Government would “consider all the options” on gun laws in an emergency statement before the Commons this afternoon, as the prime minister cautioned against a “knee-jerk reaction” on gun ownership laws following the murder of 12 people in Cumbria yesterday. The comments came as police confirmed the weapons used by Derrick Bird were legally held firearms – he had held a licence for 15 years.

Though there was agreement from Alan Johnson, the shadow home secretary, that there should be no rush to change firearms laws but they should be reviewed, there were growing calls today for tighter gun control laws in Britain. Peter Squires, professor of criminology at the University of Brighton, wrote in today’s Guardian that “if gun owners weren’t able to store ammunition at home mass shootings would be less likely”.

Professor Squires explained:

“If firearm owners were not permitted to store guns and ammunition at home, the incident could not have happened… the risks are out there – if gun owners are to keep their weapons at home, as they want to, then they should not be allowed to keep ammunition at home as well.

“We can’t look into a crystal ball to say who may or may not be about to go off the rails/encounter depression/be consumed by murderous rage – but we ought not let them have the means to perpetrate a mass shooting outrage if and when they do. Keeping guns separate from ammunition would make such incidents preventable – and our communities safer places.“

International evidence shows that there is a correlation between the percentage of households with firearms and the rate of intentional firearms deaths per 100,000 of population, as the graph below illustrates:

There have, however, been some calls for gun licensing laws not to be tightened, but repealed – citing Israel and the United States as examples Britain should follow. Dr Sean Gabb, director of the Libertarian Alliance, said:

“The Libertarian Alliance notes that these shootings would have been extremely difficult in a country where the people were allowed to arm themselves. In the United States, at least one campus shooting was brought to a premature end by armed civilians. The same is true in Israel, where many members of the public go about armed…

“All the Firearms Acts from 1920 onwards should be repealed. The largely ineffective laws of 1870 and 1902 should also be repealed. It should once again be possible for adults to walk into a gun shop and, without showing any permit or proof of identity, buy as many guns and as much ammunition as they can afford.”

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34 Responses to “Calls for tighter gun control in wake of tragedy”

  1. Shamik Das

    Correlation between gun ownership & gun murder: RT @leftfootfwd: Calls for tighter gun control in wake of tragedy: http://bit.ly/dtF2J4

  2. James Graham

    Left Knee Jerking? http://bit.ly/a9oBkM Have to say, I prefer the calmer response by the PM today. No more legislative activism – FTW!

  3. Hitchin England

    Calls for tighter gun control in wake of tragedy: http://bit.ly/dtF2J4 via @leftfootfwd

  4. Therese

    @jamesgraham Quite. Hard to see how our gun death rate could be any lower really. It's already the lowest on the graph! http://bit.ly/a9oBkM

  5. mike

    The first thing the Gun lobby said
    was this could affect our olympics hopes

    Why was the tories first move to introduce a Hunting and Shooting Minister

    Why have Countryside Alliance people secured posts in the Tory Governmnet ???

    uuummm

    Countryside Alliance read NRA

    Why was a convicted criminal allowed to legally to own two guns ??????

    And they call for no new legislation

    Yes New Lawes to stop Criminals owning Guns

    Its Simple really

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