Handgun crime rises by 46 per cent (In UK)

Times Newspapers Ltd ^ | January 09, 2003 | by pa news

[Lockbox]

Handgun crime rises by 46 per cent

Gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35 per cent last year and criminals used handguns in nearly 50 per cent more offences, Home Office figures revealed today.

Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362. In all, handgun crime rose 46 per cent year-on-year.

The figures also show the number of crimes involving handguns has more than doubled since the post-Dunblane massacre ban on the weapons, from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871 in the last financial year.

John Denham, the Home Office Minister, said: "Although crime overall remains stable, I am concerned at the significant rise that we have seen in firearm offences.

"The Home Secretary is holding a round table meeting tomorrow with key groups to make sure we are doing all we can to tackle gun crime.

"We announced earlier this week that we would be introducing a five-year minimum sentence for possession of a firearm as well as new offences to tighten up the law on air weapons and replica firearms."

Overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3 per cent, but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures.

Research from the British Crime Survey, which interviews 40,000 people a year and is also published today, showed that less than half of adults (44 per cent) believe the criminal justice system is effective in bringing people to justice. Only 39 per cent said they believed the system was dealing with cases promptly and efficiently.

But the survey also showed crime has been falling since 1997 and the risk of being a victim is very low - around the same as in 1981.

These are other the main points from the first quarterly update on crime in England and Wales. The Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures, which are for 12 months to September 2002, unless otherwise stated.

• Domestic burglary figures increased 7.9 per cent (or 5 per cent when adjusted)
• Drug offences rose 12.3 per cent but no adjusted figures were available for this category.
• Robbery was up 14.5 per cent (up 13 per cent adjusted) but from July to September, when the Government's street crime initiative was in full swing, it actually fell by 10 per cent in adjusted figures.
• The number of homicide victims killed by firearms increased 32 per cent, or 23 cases, in the year to April 2002. Overall there was a 1per cent rise in the number of homicides to 858 in England and Wales.
• Violence against the person soared by 28 per cent in the three months to September last year, which the Home Office adjusted to a 4 per cent rise.
• Over the same period sex offences were up 25.6 per cent, but ministers said this figure was likely to be inflated by the new statistical changes.

Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary said: "These figures are truly terrible. Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are domestic burglary, retail burglary and drug offences.

"The only word for this is failure: the Government's response of knee jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working and confused signals on sentences for burglary will not help either.

[sauropod]

John Denham, Home Office Minister:

"We announced earlier this week that we would be introducing a five-year minimum sentence for possession of a firearm as well as new offences to tighten up the law on air weapons and replica firearms."

That sure is gonna work < /sarcasm>

[Joe Brower]

[hexpoppy]

There must be a mistake here. Everyone knows that when the government makes guns illegal, all the bad guys will turn in thier guns.---right?

[Eagle Eye]

This is from BSNN or The Onion, right?

We all know that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns, and that there can't be handgun crime when only outlaws have guns.

[Lockbox]

tighten up the law on air weapons and replica firearms."

Got to watch out for those blow guns, deadly you know......... almost got it in Africa. Pigmy tribe member....... missed be by that much, or was it this much? Anyway got to outlaw blowguns, too easy to hide one in a bush, you know it looks like a bush! Deadly....... almost got it in Africa, did I tell you?

[copycat]

John Denham, the Home Office Minister, said: "Although crime overall remains stable, I am concerned at the significant rise that we have seen in firearm offences.

This is horrible. They better make handgun possession illegal.

[Blood of Tyrants]

What do they expect when the people are disarmed and then jailed for defending their lives? The crooks have become emboldened to the point that they don't simply strong arm you and steal your property. They now boldly hold you at gunpoint and then shoot you knowing that the police are ineffective and the people are sheep.

[Lockbox]

Robbery was up 14.5 per cent .......... sex offences were up 25.6 per cent

Stable, nothing to see, stable, minor increase, nothing to be concerned about, stable, minor bump in the road, stable.........................run away that rabbit’s dynamite!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Obviously, there's a lot more going on than handgun crime. Could it be IMMIGRATION ?

[joesnuffy]

Their government.....IS the "bad guys"

[copycat]

Up 46 percent? And that's after they changed the way they count crime. This is NOT a glitch. It's the direct result of disarming the people.

[copycat]

IMHO, this should be in Breaking News. This is big.

[Admin Moderator]

Done.

[Let's Roll]

"It's the direct result of disarming the people."

That's what happens when you create a target rich environment.

[B Knotts]

BINGO

[HiJinx]

Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary said: "These figures are truly terrible. Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are domestic burglary, retail burglary and drug offences.

"The only word for this is failure: the Government's response of knee jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working and confused signals on sentences for burglary will not help either.

As we all know, a good journalist puts his thesis statement last...

[Snuffington]

Ping

[Lancey Howard]

bttt

[bytesmith]

When guns are outlawed, only the outlaws have guns.