Gun Crime Today
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Short Cuts - Today - USA - UK - Conclusion

Gun crime is rife in America and as we now know is rising in the UK. In the last five years both countries have suffered major terrorist attacks which have left people feeling threatened and in both countries have affected gun crime but in very different ways. A lot of police in the UK and USA now carry military style weapons and what that means is increased fire power so the criminals then must increase their firepower to compete.

USA

"One of the changes that startled me the most of all, however, is the effect that September 11th had on the politics of gun control" (Cramer, 2002, p2). It seems that many people now feel in the USA that the people who are disarmed by gun control laws were the victims, and that the victims should be in a position to fight back. The argument is public safety is the public's business and that the people should have the right to protect themselves at their homes. "There are values that are true in any place or time, and one of them is your right to defend yourself from criminal attack" (Cramer, 2002, p5).

As a response to this there has been rolling back and relaxing of the gun regulations as more people want to have guns to protect themselves with laws being passed like: 2005 - Florida introduced a law allowing citizens the right to 'stand their ground' and open fire even in a public place if they are feeling threatened. Not only this but now the gun lobby want to pass a bill in Florida allowing workers to bring guns into their workplace with or without an employers consent (Borger, 2006)

These lax gun laws in the USA lead to events like this:

Monday 20th March 2006-04-02 15 year old Larry Mugrage was shot dead by 66 year old Charles Martin in the quiet suburb of Cincinnati in Ohio. Larry was running home to fetch a video game and ran across Mr Martins lawn Mr Martin opened fire from his house and then walked up to the wounded boy and pulled the trigger again this time at close range, killing him.

Mr Martin was very territorial about his lawn and even after killing the boy he was not remorseful saying the boy’s parents had been harassing him for years. Mr Martin was well within his rights to own his .410 shotgun (11mm), the state does not require gun owners to have a license (Borger, 2006)

UK

In the UK the story has been different there has been no talk of relaxing the gun laws for ordinary citizens the terrorist threat has however in part led to discussions over whether all police should be armed. Also it has led to increased powers for police when regarding terrorists e.g. the shoot to kill policy that got Charles De Menses shot dead that I discussed in my case studies. Many now feel with the current state of rising gun crime the police should be armed and recently there have been two events that have lead to more controversy:

1. Friday 18th of November 2005 PC Sharon Beshenvisky was shot dead by a bullet to the chest at point blank range in a robbery in Bradford, West Yorkshire. "Fatal shootings of British police officers - the majority of whom are unarmed - are rare, but serve as a reminder of the dangers of the job" (Smith, Panja & Townsend, 2005).

2. Monday 13th of February 2006 Rachael Brown a probationary police officer age 23 was shot in the stomach in Nottingham around half a mile from the scene of a burglary. Although she survived she had to have several hours of surgery. Nottingham city council said there were 233 firearms offences in 2003-4, the fifth highest in England and Wales "The shooting of Rachael Brown, a probationary officer, is sure to reopen the debate over whether British officers should be armed" (Thake, 2006).

Although many are calling for the arming of the police Britain's most senior police chief, Metropolitan Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and the Association of chief Police Officers, came out yesterday against the idea (Thake, 2006). In America where all police are armed a police officer dies from a gun shot every 5 days and 9 hours (Canada, 1992, p145). This seems to suggest arming the police does not really stop them from getting shot. More police than ever in the UK do carry guns and yet gun crime is on the up (Cited in the Daily Star, 2006).

Two Dads Unite Against Gun Crime

"Forty-one people every hour are killed by guns around the world" (McIvor, 2006)
On Thursday March 17th two fathers who had lost children to gun crime "stood together to plead for a global crackdown on the trade in weapons" (McIvor, 2006)

They are Mick North, the farther of Sophie North who was shot and killed by Thomas Hamilton in Dunblane and David Grimason whose two year old son was murdered when he was caught in a gun attack in Turkey in 2003. They are backing a campaign run by Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms. "They want the Government to fight harder for an international treaty to curb the weapons trade" (McIvor, 2006)

Conclusion

When researching this project the big question that came to my mind is why events like Columbine have so much media coverage but relatively small effect on attitudes to gun control in the United- States especially considering the fact that the number of lives lost at Dunblane was actually smaller than the number of children's lives lost to guns in a typical two day period in the USA. In the USA a child dies from a gunshot every two hours (Canada,1995, p145). I think that although a lot of the sociological issues surrounding gun control are the same in both countries it is public attitude that is very different. In the USA a lot of the public see it as their right to own a gun and to protect their property where as in England more people see this as the job of the police.

Both countries have poverty and large ethnic communities. Both have gangs, drugs and the media. However in America everything is bigger. They have a more prominent gang culture, a bigger gap between rich and poor, more segregation and even more drugs. The police in America fight gun fire with gun fire and anyone as long as they have ID can buy a gun from a gun show. Geoffrey Canada (1992, p165) notes that you need a license to drive a car and for this you have to pass a test but not to own a gun and in some areas of the USA guns kill more people than cars.

It seems that even children grow up thinking they can solve their problems with guns. Also violence has been prominent in America ever since it was colonised. Guns seem to be an integral part of American society. They sell ammunition just about anywhere and guns themselves can be obtained at gun shows without a background check and are even given away as an incentive to join a bank. North County Bank and trust is also a licensed firearms dealer and was giving away a gun with every account that you opened (Moore, 2002).

However there are in America many people who are in favour of tighter gun control laws but these people are outspoken by the large and far reaching influence of the NRA. The story in England is far from perfect, there is growing concern about the extent of gun possession among criminals in the UK and according to the police official statistics gun crime is rising where as in the US official statistics show gun crime as falling.

A reason given by Jewkes (2004) for the rise in gun crime in society today is that some individuals may feel over-controlled but not in control and crime offers them control and excitement. "The rising number of gun crimes and gang-land killings in the UK may be conceived in these terms; as an act of self-expression which, somewhat ironically, makes the individuals involved feel alive" (Jewkes, 2004, p29).