GCN's RESPONSE TO THE REPORT OF
THE ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP ON GUN CRIME
5 November 2003
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General
GCN welcomes the recommendations of the APPG on
Gun Crime. The degree of unanimity among witnesses was remarkable
and unexpected. It points to legislative and procedural changes
which are all within the government’s power to deliver. We hope the
government, and particularly the Home Secretary, will embrace these
suggestions in the interests of long term public safety and
security. In some areas we believe that the APPG recommendations do
not go far enough and we have identified some additional proposals
for the government’s consideration.
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Imitation weapons
We welcome the APPG’s recognition of the very
real problem of imitation firearms. They promote a growing gun
culture and are responsible for an estimated 70% of all gun crime.
People thought to be using them to threaten others may be confronted
by police Armed Response Units and put themselves and the public in
danger. Innocent people have already been killed because the police
thought they were carrying a real gun. This could happen to a child
simply playing with a BB gun. You cannot buy an imitation gun in
New York, but in this country we continue to allow them to be freely
sold in toyshops and newsagents. For criminals wanting a lethal gun,
the conversion of an easily accessible blank firer or air cartridge
weapon is a cheap and simple solution.
Given the unanimous support from witnesses,
particularly the police, we urge the government to take immediate
action to stem the tide of gun crime by legislating for a ban on the
sale, manufacture, transfer and import of imitation weapons.
Legislation has been drafted, and Labour MPs are supportive. The
government’s reaction to the problem has been to introduce a ban on
the possession of imitations in public. GCN believes that this is
an insufficient response to the public’s growing sense of fear and
insecurity.
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Airguns
GCN welcomes the APPG’s recommendation to
universalise the minimum age for unsupervised possession and use of
airguns to 17 years. Furthermore we urge the government to
introduce an enforceable licensing system for all new purchases and
a ban on the sale of airguns except through Licensed Firearms
Dealers.
The government continues to treat airguns as a
‘nuisance’ and fails to appreciate their lethality. Children are
regularly injured and occasionally killed by airguns, and thousands
of animals and birds are killed and maimed every year. Perhaps
airguns were once, in a gentler age, just toys for boys, but in the
current environment of increasing gun crime and a growing gun
culture this no longer pertains. Airguns are not toys – they are
lethal weapons and should be treated as such. We welcome the APPG’s
recommendation that the courts take airgun misuse more seriously.
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Deactivated firearms
GCN welcomes the APPG’s recommendation that all
deactivated weapons imported into the UK or transferred domestically
be deactivated to the post 1995 standard and urges the government
to persuade our EU partners to introduce similarly high standards of
deactivation. In addition we recommend that control of the sale and
storage of such weapons is introduced by means of a licensing system
similar to that which applies to real firearms.
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Gun Crime Statistics
GCN welcomes the APPG's recognition that
statistical data on gun crime is currently inadequate and paints an
out of date picture of crime problems and police responses. In our
view the incoherent and ad hoc publication of data by a
number of agencies (separate police forces, the Home Office) at a
range of different times has fuelled a general sense of crisis. We
need more recent, regular and consistent information of a higher
quality if we are to keep the public better informed. However we
would add that more frequent, quarterly, reporting of gun crime
statistics will not necessarily inform us better. Indeed it may be
that more frequent reporting of gun crime rates may simply fuel
public fears about the scale of the problems.
On the matter of quality, there is a real
question over the police’s ability to supply, and the Home Office’s
ability to collate, good quality, consistent information quickly.
GCN is also urging the government to collect and collate data
about death and injury due to firearms accident and suicide.
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Policing Gun Crime
GCN supports the APPG recommendation that the
routine arming of the police should not be introduced. In our view
such a development would run counter to new developments in
community policing which we believe are the key to keeping gun crime
low in this country. It would escalate gun violence, not reduce it,
and it would put more police officers at risk.
We also support all the other APPG’s
recommendations in relation to police practices, Authorised Firearms
Officers, witnesses, informants, international co-operation and
data collection.
7. Customs and Excise
GCN welcomes the APPG’s recommendations in relation
to the priorities and practices of the Customs and Excise Service
8. Arms exports
GCN welcomes the APPG’s recommendation that the UK
and its present and future EU partners should individually and
collectively tighten their arms export controls. The EU applicant
countries include a number of major arms exporters and should
therefore set the tightest possible controls over arms exports, and we
agree that all governments, including our own, should do everything to
ensure this is maintained as the EU grows. Any measures that remove
weapons from circulation are to be welcomed, and GCN agrees that the
Government should support all possible initiatives.
We also fully support the APPG’s view that the
Government should honour its manifesto commitment and implement extra
territorial controls on arms brokers. This is a major loophole which
would allow UK arms brokers to continue to operate with ease, for
example by making a journey on the Eurostar and simply using a
continental hotel room for an office. Many other countries, such
as Poland and Finland, which have adopted new arms trafficking
legislation are implementing extra territorial controls. The UK
Government has not provided an adequate explanation for its failure to
follow suit.
27 November 2003
View the
Summary of the APPG Report
