From: [b g hauk] at [berlin.infomatch.com] (Brian Hauk)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive

British Rulers Debate Ban On Handguns, Knives, And Curbs On Democratic Rights 
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from the Militant, vol.60/no.42                     November 25, 1996

BY TONY HUNT
AND JEAN-LOUIS SALFATI
   LONDON, England - Leaders of the two main parties here -
 the ruling Conservatives and the main opposition group, the 
Labour Party - have begun campaigning for a general election 
that must be held by May 1997. 
   In what The Economist has dubbed an "arms-race of 
authoritarianism," the two parties are competing with each other 
in pushing for new laws that scapegoat workers and youth for a 
developing social crisis, give increased powers to the state, 
and undermine democratic rights.
   A massacre in Dunblane, Scotland, in March caused widespread 
horror among working people. More recently, a youth was 
convicted for the fatal stabbing last December of head teacher 
Philip Lawrence outside a school in London. These events and 
widely reported cases of so-called "disruptive" school children 
have been exploited by bourgeois politicians. They have sought 
to portray working people and youth as the source of violence 
and social breakdown in the decaying capitalist system.
   On March 13, Thomas Hamilton walked into a primary school in 
Dunblane carrying four legally held handguns and opened fire, 
slaughtering 16 children and their teacher. He then shot 
himself. These violent acts prompted liberal newspapers such as 
The Independent to call for gun control as the way to prevent a 
repeat of this tragedy.
   In Scotland, a campaign called Snowdrop was formed involving 
the parents of the children killed at Dunblane. It called for a 
total handgun ban. With financial backing from local businesses 
and assistance from a Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Snowdrop 
collected 705,000 signatures on petitions through tables in 
"every large Scottish town," according to the Sunday Telegraph. 
Snowdrop leaders, met separately with government ministers and 
Labour leader Anthony Blair when they delivered the petitions to 
parliament. The main Snowdrop spokesperson Anne Pearston, a 
former accountant, told the Sunday Telegraph, "There is too much 
violence in society." She was invited to speak at the Labour 
Party Conference.
   In response, Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard 
published proposed laws, November 1, which he described as "some 
of the toughest gun control laws in the world." The proposals 
call for banning all handguns above .22 caliber. This would mean 
the destruction of 160,000 of the 200,000 legally held handguns 
in Great Britain. Smaller caliber sporting weapons will be 
restricted to licensed clubs. These proposals went beyond the 
recommendations of Judge William Cullen in a report on Dunblane 
commissioned by the government.

   Banning guns and knives
   Pearston and the leadership of the Labour party and the 
Liberal-Democrats have opposed Howard's proposals as not tough 
enough and called for a total handgun ban. Labour spokesperson 
George Robertson said, "There is no place in any decent 
civilized society for any kind of handguns." Robertson, however, 
failed to mention the firepower held by Britain's police or its 
occupation forces in Northern Ireland.
   Underlying divisions in the ruling party have come to the 
surface on this issue threatening its parliamentary majority. 
Several conservative MPs have opposed the government and 
supported a total ban. They include former cabinet minister 
David Mellor. Writing in The Guardian, another liberal daily, 
Mellor called for an end to "the growth of an American past-
time." Right-wing Tories have attacked the government for 
different reasons. In the summer, a Conservative dominated 
parliamentary committee had opposed any ban. Right-wing MP John 
Carlisle accused the Home Secretary of "panic" and the Dunblane 
relatives of "hysteria."
   The October 17 conviction of 16-year-old Learco Chindamo for 
the killing of Philip Lawrence allowed electioneering 
politicians to add knife control to their shopping lists of 
increased powers. The murdered teacher's wife, Frances Lawrence, 
published a "manifesto" in The Times calling for a "movement" to 
end "violence and encourage civic values." She also called for a 
"higher status" in society for teachers and police, an end to 
the government's "neutrality" on the concept of the family, an 
emphasis in teaching "effort, earnestness and excellence," and a 
"ban on the sale of combat knives" and "closure of the shops" 
that sell them.
   "Parties rush to join the new moral crusade" was how the 
Independent described the reaction to the Lawrence manifesto. 
The paper spoke of a "campaign led by Mrs Lawrence to tackle 
lawlessness among young people."
   Labour leader Anthony Blair said that Lawrence "has done a 
real service to the country." His deputy, John Prescott, called 
for a "crusade" against combat knifes and attacked the 
government for not proposing new laws. "We'll work with the 
government," Prescott declared.
   The jailing of a worker on October 31 showed who the real 
target of these measures is. Dean Payne, 26, was sentenced to 
two weeks in prison for carrying work knives in his car. He was 
the first person prosecuted under the Offensive Weapons Act, 
passed after the Lawrence killing last year.

   Workers are the real target
   Payne is a casual [temporary] worker at a newspaper 
distribution depot where he was required to bring his own tools 
for the job. The judge said there was "no evidence" that Payne 
had the knives for "offensive purposes" but sent him to jail 
anyway. The judge's action was publicly praised by Olga 
Maitland, a right-wing Conservative MP.
   The proposed new "Crime Bill" includes a "two strikes and 
you're out" clause under which defendants are given automatic 
life sentences. It also calls for abolition of parole and 
automatic early release for prisoners, and mandatory minimum 
sentences. As the number of inmates is expected to increase 
sharply, the government also plans to build 12 new prisons.
   A "Police Bill" published November 1 aims to set up a new cop 
squad with more than 1,400 detectives and an annual budget of 
90 million (US$148 million). The squad will be given greater 
powers than other police units to enter properties and 
electronically monitor conversations. The Bill also aims to 
create a criminal records agency that would provide vetting of 
convictions and certificates for prospective employees to verify 
if they have a clean record. While some judges have expressed 
opposition to these measures, the Labour Party has indicated it 
will support them.
   Editorials in capitalist newspapers have reflected the 
divided opinion in ruling circles on the effectiveness of these 
"morality" campaigns and an uncertainty that attacks on 
democratic rights can be carried out without triggering working-
class resistance. The right-wing Daily Telegraph attacked the 
proposed new gun-controls as "gesture politics" and the debate 
over them as "demagogic."
   "Today, it is social rather than industrial relations that 
have gone awry" the Telegraph said. It urged the government to 
accelerate cuts on the social wage and encourage "traditional 
families" and the "institution of marriage." The real problem, 
according to The Telegraph, is "moral relativism," "single-
parent households," and the "rights culture of the 60s and 70s."

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