"British lawmakers propose tightening the screening process for issuing
licenses to possess a gun, and giving police the power to revoke that license
if authorities fear the owner might be unstable.
"They also called on the government to set up a computer database with
details about [--logically, then, "psychological profiles" of--] all firearms
owners in Britain.
Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton is of course a great admirer of how the
British do things, and has praised British gun control measures as a model to
be emulated by the US ...
More British Gun Rules Backed
LONDON (AP) - A cross-party committee of lawmakers recommended Thursday that
Britain further tighten its gun laws to make airguns subject to the same
restrictions as other weapons and prohibit children under 14 from handling
all firearms.
Britain's pro-gun lobby immediately attacked the proposals by the Home
Affairs Select Committee, contending they would restrict legitimate gun
owners but not criminals.
Home Office minister Charles Clarke called the lawmakers' report ``detailed
and wide-ranging'' and promised the Labor Party government would ``make a
full response in due course.''
Britain has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. Handguns were banned
after a gunman shot and killed 16 kindergarten children and their teacher in
Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996.
Under the lawmakers' proposals, all guns capable of killing would be subject
to the same restrictions. Airguns - which use compressed air to fire
projectiles - would be licensed, with owners having to prove they are fit to
own a gun, have a safe place to store it and good reasons for keeping it.
An estimated 4 million airguns are in circulation around Britain, accounting
for 70 percent of the firearms held legally, the report said.
Figures for 1998-99 showed that nearly two-thirds of all recorded firearms
offenses were linked to air weapons, according to the report. Most of those
offenses involved criminal damage, but nearly 2,000 also involved injuries to
people, it said.
The lawmakers also recommended tightening the screening process for gun
licenses, and giving police the power to revoke a license if authorities
feared someone had become unstable. And they called on the government to set
up a computer database with details of all firearms owners in Britain.
They also said a minimum age should be set for gun use, but remained
undecided over whether the age should be 12 or 14.
Committee chairman Robin Corbett said the lawmakers had set out to simplify
the legislation and make it more consistent. He said they did not want to
threaten law-abiding gun owners.
``That is not our intention and we do not think that will happen,'' Corbett
said.
But John Hoare, secretary of the National Small Bore Rifle Association, said
the proposed regulations will hit ``those who are law-abiding and cause no
mischief, damage or injury to anyone.''
``They will not affect criminals,'' he said.
The recommendations also failed to please the antigun lobby. The Gun Control
Network criticized the report as not going far enough, saying it would ``do
little to discourage future generations of shooters.''
