Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 13:00:30 -0800
From: "Ken L. Holder" <[k--o--r] at [mci.newscorp.com]>
Cc: [n--b--n] at [mainstream.net]
Subject: Guns in UK

How is this possible? They have total gun control, right?

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At URL http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

(London) Electronic Telegraph  Friday 26 January 1996  Home News:

Casual use of guns in street crime alarms police chief

By Nigel Bunyan

CRIMINALS were using guns in a casual and blatant manner, a chief
constable said yesterday.

Arguments that were once settled with fists were now resolved with firearms,
said James Sharples, current chairman of the Association of Police Officers.

Mr Sharples said that many of the shootings in his own Merseyside area were
drug related, involving territorial disputes between rival factions.

Crime in his region had increased by 12 per cent in the past year. Robberies
had risen by 36 per cent.

But his biggest concern was an apparent explosion in the almost casual use of
guns, with five murders and 29 woundings by firearms. In the previous year
there had been no gun-related murders and only 10 woundings.

As his police authority met to discuss the figures, Mr Sharples said: "What
we are talking about is a significant increase in the use of firearms and a
considerably increased threat on the streets.

"There is almost now a casual, gratuitous use of firearms on the streets.
We've seen shootings and knee- cappings, apart from the murders. Some of
the armed robberies are blatant, that is the only word for them. The scene, I
am afraid, is pretty bleak, and poses a significant challenge to the force."

Mr Sharples said he believed that Britain had "crossed the firearms
threshold".

He added: "People are now showing an increasing propensity to use firearms.
That is a dangerous development observable not just on Merseyside but right
across the country, particularly in the conurbations.

"There has been a change in the way some criminal elements are prepared to
do their business, largely instigated by the vast profits to be made from drugs.
All of that has led to the situation we see on Merseyside.

"You do get peaks and troughs but we've reached a significant peak in the last
eight or nine months which doesn't show any signs of diminishing. It is a
national development that is seen perhaps in sharper focus in some parts of
the country than in others.

"My worry is that what we are seeing now is that criminals, not the hard-line
criminals but very often young male criminals, are increasingly likely to go
out with firearms whereas they wouldn't have considered it a few years ago."

Mr Sharples said that in the face of rising crime his force had lost 200
officers due to financial cutbacks in 1995. It had also had to cope with the
extra burdens of long-running disputes involving dockers and firefighters.

Mr Sharples insisted that his force had not lost control. But he added: "There
is a significant chance that the level of financial provision over the next three
years will decline.

"We are looking at a decline in the overall size of the force when faced with
all these other problems. It is a formidable task ahead of us."

A Home Office spokesman said that although robberies in England and Wales
had increased by six per cent in the year to June, 1995, the overall trend was
downward.