Gun Incident Summary - January 2007

JANUARY 2006 - SUMMARY

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Youths and Gun Crime - In December 2006 a report commissioned by the Home Office (see News Items) included a warning that a quarter of those who went on to commit serious gun crime had "first experienced airguns and BB guns, typically in their early teens". Earlier this month Sussex Police released a shocking report about the level of gun crime among young people in their county, which highlighted the numbers who were committing offences with imitation guns (see News Items).

Sadly this month's incidents provide too many further instances of a continuing involvement of the under 21s in all aspects of gun crime. More details can be found below, but among the incidents were an armed raid on a shop in Stranraer involving boys as young as 12, a street robbery in which two teenagers held up a man with a replica gun, the hold up and robbery of a bus driver by three youths and the attempted hold up of another driver by someone aged about 14 or 15, a shooting in which a 19-year-old fired an airgun into his 16-year-old girlfriend's face causing her serious injuries, and two separate incidents in which passengers were shot at or intimidated by young people firing BB guns on trains. Around the country a number of people aged 21 or under were arrested for having imitation guns in public or for targeting people, animals and property with airguns. Those who attempt to dismiss some of these incidents as youthful antics or pranks should put themselves in the position of the victims and consider how frightened they would be if a gun were pointed at them, not knowing if the weapon were real or imitation, or reflect that when an airgun is fired at a person it may not just cause a bruise but has the potential to inflict a fatal injury.

Would impressionable youngsters still commit so many of these crimes if airguns and imitation guns were less easily available and young people actively discouraged from using guns by all agencies and organisations? Gun Control Network is sure they would not. For too long many of the weapons used in these crimes have been considered as little more than toys, whilst shooting with potentially lethal guns has been promoted as an appropriate and character building activity for young people. Both views send out the wrong message about these dangerous and frightening weapons.

To stop any more of these guns getting into the hands of young people and others who might misuse them, we hope that the Government speeds up the introduction of the measures from last year's Violent Crime Reduction Act which restrict airgun sales to registered dealers and their ownership and unsupervised use to the over 18s, and which ban the sale, manufacture and import of imitation guns. And they should do so without introducing any loopholes.

Soft air weapons are extremely realistic-looking military-style imitation firearms used solely for and as an integral part of a pastime, skirmishing. According to the latest Home Office statistics for England and Wales soft air weapons, together with BB guns, accounted for 84 percent of all imitation weapons used in crime in 2005/06, yet Home Office Ministers propose that an exemption can be made so that soft air weapons are still available. This would drive a coach and horses through new legislation that was supposed to prevent the sale of anything that resembled a real gun, which existing soft air weapons certainly do. It seems quite possible that features (such as a change of colour) could be incorporated allowing soft air weapons to be readily distinguishable from real guns.

The Government and others will also need to recognise that the problem won't just disappear once gun sales become more restricted. Despite increasing concern over a period of years the Government took too long to introduce even these measures. In the meantime the number of weapons in circulation has been allowed to grow. This continued easy availability has been reflected over the decade in a huge increase in the level of crime involving imitation guns (566 offences in England and Wales in 1998/99 rising to 3275 in 2005/06). There will therefore be a need for additional measures, not least ones which promote a change of attitude towards guns by both youngsters and parents, together with an amnesty aimed at removing many of the guns already in circulation. If these measures are not taken it seems inevitable that the problems with youths and gun crime will continue for some time to come.

Gun Deaths and Injuries - Most of the incidents resulting in fatal or serious injuries occurred in the London area. Of the other incidents we noted, two occurred in Scotland and one in Northamptonshire.

Three victims were killed in shooting incidents in London: in Barking a man died in what was described as a gangland-style shooting, in Cricklewood a man was fatally wounded with his own air rifle during a robbery in his home (see below) and in Brentford a man was killed when he was shot with a machine gun. The body of a man, apparently shot in the face with a shotgun in a gangland hit, was found in Rigside (South Lanarkshire).

Three victims were injured, one critically, during a shooting at a nightclub in Islington (north London): two people had been injured in another shooting at the same club two days earlier. A second man was injured during the machine gun attack in Brentford (west London) in which another victim died.

A man received injuries to his legs in a shooting in Wellingborough (Northamptonshire). A male victim was shot in a residential street in Nitshill (Glasgow).

Armed Hold-Ups and Assaults - As we have noted previously, because of the difficulty in identifying a weapon (often the description is of one looking like a handgun) it seems likely that a significant number of the incidents summarised below will have involved an imitation gun, a view supported by the increasing number of convictions for robbery involving an imitation weapon.

Two men forced their way into a woman's house in Deighton (Huddersfield) at gunpoint and stole property. A gun was fired at the door of a house in Shawclough (Rochdale) by burglars who stole a purse.

Security guards were robbed of thousands of pounds in Chippenham (Wiltshire) and in Kilmarnock (Ayrshire).

Tamworth FC's clubhouse was raided after an FA Cup game by men armed with a shotgun and a knife who stole several thousand pounds.

Two young boys held up at store in Stranraer at gunpoint - three 13-year-olds were later arrested. There were robberies and attempted robberies on other shops and supermarkets in Langley (Buckinghamshire), Chippenham (Wiltshire), Newsome (Huddersfield) (a weapon was fired), Bromsgrove (Worcestershire), Tredworth (Gloucester) (where the robber was overpowered by the shopkeeper), Penge, South Norwood and Thornton (the last three incidents in south London may be linked), Chesterfield, Southbourne (Sussex) and Wigan, off licences in Bradley (Huddersfield) and Blyth (Northumberland) (a handgun was fired as the raiders escaped), a post office in Livingston (West Lothian) and petrol stations in Chesterfield (by the man also responsible for the raid on a Chesterfield shop) and Wickham (Hampshire).

A taxi driver was robbed at gunpoint of money and his mobile phone in Sherwood (Nottingham) and a bus driver was held up at gunpoint in Anerley (south London) and robbed of personal possessions. In another bus incident in Conisbrough (South Yorkshire) the driver was threatened by a boy aged between 14 and 15 armed with a handgun but he managed shut the doors and drove off.

Other Incidents - Following an armed siege in Chilcompton (Somerset) involving a man thought to be armed with a firearm and explosives police fired a stun gun and a baton round - a man was arrested. Another man was arrested in Newton Poppleford (Devon) after police received a report of a man armed with a firearm and a knife.

Streets in Nottingham and Bristol were closed off after reports of shots being fired. Police cordoned off part of a residential area in Portsmouth after reports of a man being fired at, possibly with an air pistol.

A firearm was brandished in a pub in Bitterne (Southampton) shortly before the premises was firebombed.

A prisoner, who was later recaptured, escaped when two armed men released him from an ambulance at Hammersmith Hospital in west London.

Smuggling, Thefts and Losses - Three Lithuanian nationals were given long jail sentences (one for ten years and two for eleven years) after being found guilty of smuggling converted pistols into Britain.

The pistol used by a man to kill four members of his family in Newcastle was brought back to this country from Bosnia after the man had served there with the army (see below).

A shotgun and an air rifle were stolen from a house in Duffield, Derby.

Convictions (see also Imitation Guns and Airgun Incidents) - An 18-year-old will serve at least 17 years for the murder of a man in Duntocher (Glasgow) whom he shot with a powerful hunting rifle.

A second man has been convicted of the murder of a man in Bulwell (Nottinghamshire) in August 2003 - he supplied the gun used to shoot the victim and will serve a minimum of 18 years.

A man pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of four members of his family in Newcastle on the grounds of diminished responsibility - he shot all his victims with a pistol he had brought back from Bosnia where he served as a soldier.

An elderly man will be sentenced later for shooting and injuring his love rival with a borrowed shotgun at an allotment in Orsett (Essex).

A man has been given a 16-year-jail sentence after being found guilty of attempted murder following a shooting incident in Fen Ditton (Cambridge) (details in November 2006 Incidents).

An eight-year-jail sentence was given to a man who carried out a series of armed robberies in south London - he faced seven counts of possessing a firearm. Six men have been jailed for minimum terms of five years to ten years following a bank raid in Ashton (Preston) in which a pistol was fired from the getaway car.

Airguns - A man was killed with his own high-power air rifle which was lying in his home in Cricklewood (north west London) when it was raided by a gang of three men, one of whom shot him in the chest during a struggle.

In Paulton (Somerset) a 16-year-old girl was seriously injured when she was shot in the face with an air rifle by her 19-year-old boyfriend.

Armed police were called to the car park of a retail park in Colne after someone fired an air rifle at cars, hitting one man in the back of his head. An 18-year-old was hit with an airgun pellet whilst walking in the street in Scotstoun (Glasgow) and other people reported being fired at in the same area - a 20-year-old was arrested. Three youths, aged 14 and 15, were arrested following incidents in Eaglestone (Buckinghamshire) in which a number of people were hit with airgun pellets.

Police have described how a serial sniper has been targeting motorists in Greenbank (County Durham): 34 incidents have occurred since January last year.

Three men, all under-21, were questioned after an air rifle was brandished out of the window of a van at Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire.

Three men and a woman were arrested in Wrexham after windows were damaged by somebody firing an airgun. Vandals may have been using air rifles repeatedly to cause expensive damage to a swimming centre in Norwich. Police believe an air weapon was used in an attack at a family home in Seaburn (County Durham) in which a kitchen window and a car window were smashed. In Peterhead (Grampian) a special needs school and a house have been damaged in air weapon attacks.

Two men were given suspended custodial sentences (51 weeks and 30 weeks) after threatening people with an air rifle and a samurai sword at Ockham (Surrey).

A man was given a conditional discharge after being spotted in a Halifax pub with an air rifle.

A Wiltshire man who, as a result of a previous jail sentence, was not permitted to have a firearm has been given a three month sentence for being in possession of an air rifle (details in October 2006 Incidents).

Imitation Guns - Two teenagers armed with a replica gun held up a man in Beckenham and stole his wallet and mobile phone.

Two incidents involving youths firing BB guns on trains were reported during January. Two elderly women train passengers were targeted with a BB gun on a train between Aberdeen and Stonehaven - two 14-year-olds, a boy and a girl, have been charged. Four male youths fired a gun at one another on a train and as they stepped onto the platform at Hove station before stealing alcohol from a shop - police were questioning three teenagers and a 20-year-old.

A 16-year-old was charged with possession of an imitation firearm after an incident at Stanton Hill (Nottinghamshire).

Cars on the A361 in Devon were attacked by someone firing what were probably BB gun pellets.

Three men, aged 21 and 20, were arrested in Lincoln after a man was seen with a gun in the street - two BB guns were recovered. A 17-year-old was arrested after a gun was pointed at a BBC reporter in West Howe, Bournemouth - the weapon was confirmed to be a BB gun.

A man faces jail for a string of armed robberies in Hampshire in which he threatened staff of four stores and petrol stations with an imitation gun. Another man has pleaded guilty to a number of charges including two relating to a doorstep robbery in which he pointed an imitation weapon (an airgun) at an elderly couple in Weston-super-Mare.

Following an incident in Boston a man has been jailed for two years for possessing an imitation gun (an 8 mm blank-firing pistol) with intent to cause fear of violence.

Three youths, aged 15, 17 and 18, who fired ball-bearing guns at pupils at a school in Ashbrooke, Sunderland, in September 2006 will not have to face court action.

Incidents Involving Animals - Two youths, aged 18 and 17, pleaded guilty to killing a swan using a powerful air rifle in Harlington (South Yorkshire). Another youth, aged 16, was arrested after swans were the target of an airgun attack in Widnes.

In other airgun incidents a dog had to be put down after it was shot whilst walking with his owner in Merthyr Tydfil and two cows were shot in the eyes with an air rifle in Redhill (Somerset).

In Ash (Surrey) three horses were attacked with a shotgun - at least one had to be put down as a result of its injuries.

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