Mike in reply wrote:
> >Some very quotable lines in today's Telegraph about British gun laws:
>
> >> Gun laws that constrain the law-abiding
> >> We have, post-Dunblane, what are said to be the toughest gun
> >> control laws in the world. They have actually proved strikingly
> >> ineffectual. Gun crime has doubled since they were introduced.
> >> Young hoodlums are able to acquire handguns...
> >> The only people currently incommoded by the firearms laws are
> >> legitimate holders of shotgun licences, who are subjected to the
> >> most onerous police checks.
>
> >Full article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/
> >opinion/2007/02/16/dl1601.xml
>
> The rest of the story isn't as nice:
>
> "The truth is that the laws relating to possession of guns are nowhere
> near tough enough."
Being an opinion piece, I wasn't much interested. But further down in the
article are snips which do illuminate:
Possessing a firearm carries a minimum sentence (ministers
insist on calling it "mandatory", but it is not) of five
years. That means release, in normal circumstances, after
30 months ... For those aged between 17 and 21, the
minimum sentence is three years, which means release after
just 18 months. Such piffling sanctions hardly amount to
an effective deterrent to these young hoodlums.
Ignoring the (un)desirable nature of regulating ownership/possession, the
basic question of deterrence reappears. If indeed:
1) sentences are optional
2) minimum sentence are short
3) even the minimum is _not_ given early release
One has to ask "what is the deterrence?" I don't know about British street
gang culture, but in the U.S. doing a short prison sentence is a badge of
honor. If it is the same in the U.K., the government may actually be
encouraging gangland firearm possession.
----
Guy Smith
Author, Gun Facts
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.GunFacts.info
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