The
Gun Control Network was established
in the wake of the horrific murders in Dunblane. It was set up by a
group that included academics, lawyers and the parents of victims killed
in Hungerford and Dunblane.
Supporters
There is widespread support for GCN’s
objectives. This Website will enable more people who have concerns about
public safety and the gun culture to contact us.
Lobbying
Our objective is to ensure that MPs,
Lords and parliamentary candidates from all parties are in no doubt that
gun control will win votes. We
will continue to promote gun control as an election issue and urge the
government and opposition parties to include specific measures in their manifestos.
International Links
We are liaising with other gun control
organisations around the world and will monitor legislative developments
on a global basis.
Partnership
GCN calls on all local councils in
Britain to endorse the objectives of the Network and to work closely
with local police in updating information on the activities of gun clubs
and firearms dealers in their local authority areas (see
sample resolution).
GCN is already working closely with many police forces and individual
police officers throughout the country. We will be encouraging the
creation of a network of local gun control groups across the country.
Research
There is a deplorable lack of coherent
research data about guns in the UK. This has allowed the selective use
of statistics by gun lobbyists to go unchallenged. We will promote a
national programme of systematic and broad based research that covers
the availability, use, storage, registration, and trade of firearms, and
their relationship to crime and public health.
Fair Representation
The GCN calls for the routine
representation of the victims of firearms crime and of gun control
organisations on any government and quasi-government body, always in
equal numbers with any representatives of the firearms industry or
shooting associations. We had particular concerns about the Firearms
Consultative Committee, which has now been disbanded and want to ensure
that no future body gives undue weight to the narrow sectional interests of
the shooting fraternity.
