From: "David M", [EMAIL PROTECTED] At last I've had a letter published in the Electronic Telegraph!!! DM David Mack [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: Whiff of stupidity Date: 9 October 2000 SIR - It seems that the Conservatives are not interested in forming the government again. The total ban on the lawful ownership of handguns, instigated by the Tories as a knee-jerk, vote-winning reaction to the Dunblane massacre, and ever-tougher gun laws, have not reduced crime in the slightest but have led to a large rise in the criminal misuse of firearms. Can the Tories not see that this idiotic proposal to make first-time cannabis users criminals will also be entirely counterproductive? [Widdecombe plan would jail 2,000, 7 October 2000]. -- Please be careful when writing to papers and more importantly MPs when you mention the crime rate because the Home Office is just waiting for comments that are wrong so they can portray us as idiots. The armed crime rate actually hasn't gone up that much, in fact in several categories the trend is downwards. Where it has gone up is in offences against the person, e.g. assault. Armed robbery is going down and so are property crimes such as vandalism. Basically the picture is that the less serious offences are going downward, but the most serious offences are going up. Handgun-related homicide was higher in 1998 than any year prior to 1994, but it was lower than in 1995-1997. There are so few firearm-related homicides in GB that it is hard to infer much from the statistics, but the simple fact that 28 people were murdered with handguns in E&W in 1998 indicates the ban was less than successful. Steve. Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
