gun crime resource pack

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Under the gun culture

The recent murders of three teenagers highlight the problem of children who

are vulnerable to gang crime, says Lyndsey Turner

Tuesday February 27, 2007The Guardian

The recent spate of shootings in south London claimed the lives of teenagersBilly Cox, Michael Dosunmu and James Andre Smartt-Ford. Some say theshootings paint a troubling picture of a society in crisis. Teachers and youthworkers are uniquely able to help young people to challenge and question thegrowing gun culture. A lesson on gun crime offers pupils the chance todiscuss street violence and to investigate why children as young as 12 are

becoming involved in gun culture.

Gun nation

Help students to understand why the deaths ofBilly Cox, James AndreSmartt-Ford and Michael Dosunmu have caused such concern amongpoliticians and community groups. David Cameron has suggested theseshootings are symptomatic of a "badly broken society". Ask students tocompose a piece of persuasive writing that either supports or disputes hisstatement. Examine the scale of gun crime in the UK before studying thegovernment's statistics on gun crime. What evidence is there to suggest that

gun crime is on the increase?

Guns and gangs

It seems clear that the spate of recent gun-related deaths among teenagers islinked to the rise in gang membership. After reading an article about gangs,and watching a video about the link between gangs and guns (titled ViolenceGives Status and available at here), ask students to make a list of the reasonswhy young people might choose to associate themselves with a particulargang. Explore the emotional and social factors that seem to promote gangmembership. Younger students might like to investigate the word "respect"

and to discuss the role played by 'disrespectful behaviour' in gun-relateddeaths. Ask students to brainstorm the phrase "gang culture" and use theresults as the basis of a discussion ofguns as fashion accessories.Investigate the different kinds of gangs profiled by experts at PortsmouthUniversity before asking groups of students to design an advertisingcampaign that attempts to convey the dangers of gang behaviour.

The blame game

Politicians and columnists seem eager to link the rising tide of gun crime to

wider social problems. Ask students to list films, rap lyrics and TVprogrammes that attribute glamour to guns and gangs. Younger students
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might like to read about the link between rap lyrics and violent crimehere.Introduce students to the strategies designed to combat the spread of gunsand tackle the root causes of poverty and neglect. Community representativeshave suggested children are using guns to settle scores and gain respect.Introduce pupils to the recent Unicef survey, which reveals that British

children feel unhappierand less valued than their counterparts in otherwealthy countries. In the maths classroom, ask groups of students to analysethe data collected by Unicefand to represent the factors relating to happinessand wellbeing in a range of visual and graphical forms.

Fighting back

Take the opportunity to explain legislation surrounding gun crime beforeexamining the government's plans to combat the spread of guns. Do studentsfeel the presence of armed police or Tony Blair's initiative, which would see17-year-olds sentenced for possession of a gun and gang membership, would

be more effective in the fight against guns? Ask groups to explore the rangeof views expressed in the BBC's online forum and to use these opinions asthe basis of role-play set at a meeting between local police officers andmembers of a community affected by gun crime. As part of the Englishcurriculum, ask older students to comment on the means by which the HomeOffice is attempting to bring an end to shootingsamong young blackLondoners. What role do they feel teachers and schools have to play ineducating young people about gun crime?
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FEATURESGang Culture

Gang culture is growing in the UK, with increasingly young people joining gangs, often

carrying imitation or real firearms and knives, both for protection and as part of their

image.

When violence erupts, it gains a high profile in the press. The shooting of Charlene Ellis and

Letisha Shakespeare in Aston in 2003 received a huge amount of media attention and increased

public concern about the escalating problems relating to gangs, violence and drugs that are

prevalent across some of our most deprived inner city neighbourhoods, said Kate Broadhurst,

Head of Research with Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International (PRCI), a spin-out

company from the University of Leicester.

Gangs, she points out, have their own hierarchy. As categorised by the Jill Dando Institute (JDI)

in 2005, they fall into three groups:

Peer groups - small unorganised groups who share the same space and a common history. Their

involvement in crime will mostly be at a low level and will not be important to the identity of the group.

Gangs - mostly comprised of street based groups of young people for whom crime and violence is an

essential part of the groups identity. Groups tend to have a name.

Organised criminal groups - groups of individuals for whom involvement in crime is for personal gain,

and is probably their main occupation. These groups operate in the illegal market place.

Who joins gangs?

Despite wide variations in types of gangs and their activities, there are, Kate Broadhurst says,

some common trends in gang structure and involvement. Gang members are predominately

male street gangs are typically made up of males in their teens to early twenties, whilst

females tend to follow gangs without becoming as heavily engaged in activity as their malecounterparts. The JDI study suggests that females are more involved in peer groups than street

gangs.

Gangs often share an identity based either on age, location, ethnicity, peer networks or blood

relationships and tend to be hierarchical communities with common interests and shared

purposes.

How do they operate? Opinions vary as to levels of organisation. Research carried out in

Manchester and Birmingham suggests that gangs consist of key individuals surrounded by

ordinary members - the gang being more organised at the centre and less so on the edges:

gang leaders the leaders determine strategies and plan activities but do not get involved in

committing offences.

gang workers these are established gang members caught up in the running of the business.

foot soldiers these are the youngest and most visible layer of a gang and it is this group that are

most at risk of becoming a victim of violent crime.

Why do people join gangs?

Gangs may form due to social exclusion and discrimination - people come together for a sense

of safety and belonging. Immigrant populations, those excluded from education or people who

have engaged in criminal activities from an early age are particularly at risk of gang

involvement. Others may join a gang simply for something to do, seeking protection in

numbers, or for reasons of status and peer pressure.


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How violent are gangs?

Once someone is a member of a gang it can be extremely difficult for them to leave, particularly

when the gang feels that ex-members may divulge gang secrets or provide evidence against

them to the police. Loyalty within a gang is so strong that members thought to have been

disloyal are at risk of violence even being killed.

There is a general consensus that there are links between gangs, guns and drugs, Kate

Broadhurst says. However this relationship is complicated. For instance, gang members are

more likely than non gang members to be drug dealers. Consequently drug dealers may use

firearms to protect themselves or enforce debts yet it is important to highlight that not all gun

crime is drug related.

In addition, arrestee data shows that gang members are five times more likely than non-gang

members to report owning a gun. One theory claims that a relationship may exist between the

use of a weapon and the level of gang involvement - organised crime groups use guns whilst

street gangs prefer knives.

A Home Office study regarding shootings, gangs and violent incidents in Manchester concluded

that the carrying of firearms for gang members is partly protective, partly instrumental for

engaging in violent crimes and partly symbolic.

Can you stop young people getting involved in gang?

PRCI is currently working with agencies in cities across the Midlands to address gang culture on

a local level. There are a number of interventions that have been launched across the UK to

divert young people away from gang activity, and to help those wanting to leave gangs.

One such initiative is a radio project set up in Aston in September 2004, offering young people a

supportive and attractive alternative to gang culture which is still credible amongst their peers.

Through formal training the project has helped people develop careers as producers, DJs,

presenters and sound engineers. The project also runs an enterprise course to provide people

with the skills needed to run their own business, and provides alternative role models for young

people to look up to.

In Southwark, two members of the Youth Offending Team deliver a twelve-week programme to

schools, pupil referral units and youth clubs, challenging young peoples attitudes to various

issues, and demystify gang culture, through art, drama, video, discussion and confidential one-

to-one sessions.

Alternatively the Leap Confronting Conflict project, trialled in Glasgow and North London, works

with rival gangs, encouraging them to engage with one another and consider the consequences

of their actions. This project has been successful in soothing gang relations enabling members

of rival gangs to attend community events together.

Launched in 2001, the Manchester Multi-Agency Gang Strategy (MMAGS) was modelled on the

Boston Gun Project in the US, which was a problem-orientated policing initiative to reduce gang

violence. MMAGS tackles street gangs involved in firearm use in Manchester, aiming to reduce

the impact of gun and gang related activity, rehabilitate those convicted of gun or gang related

offences and offer young people education and employment opportunities as alternatives to gun

and gang crime.

The project consists of a group of seconded staff from statutory agencies such as the police,

youth services, education and probation who ensure that a range of diversionary activities are

available for young people who are, or are likely to be involved in criminal gang activity. They

work with up to 75 individuals at any one time, mostly aged between 10 and 25. The project is

voluntary, however some individuals are given court orders to work with MMAGS or it is a


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condition of their licence. The project has provided those who would not have been involved in

education, the opportunity to gain qualifications. In addition, the project also does preventative

work in schools and youth centres discussing issues such as gang culture, firearm legislation

and peer pressure.

A version of this feature appeared first in National Community Safety Network News, Spring

2006.


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It's a guy thing

The rise of knife and gun culture isn't about black communities. It is about boys.

Beatrix Campbell

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April 13, 2007 1:00 PM | Printable version

So, Tony Blair thinks he is being brave. Blaming black culture for something, anything, has

been an illicit desire lurking a long time in the shadows of polite but populist white society,

where it is right on to be right off.

Good manners may have meant that these people know what not to say in public, but its

populist appeal to tradition and authority makes the wish to transgress irresistible.

Tony Blair isn't brave, however, he's wrong. The inexorable rise and rise of knife and gun

culture isn't about black communities, or even black boys. It is about boys.

And it isn't an alien contagion blighting the otherwise healthy social body. "Stop thinking this

is a society that has gone wrong - it hasn't," says Blair. That remark should enter the annals

much as Thatcher's risible claim that "there's no such thing as society". It suggests that

Blair's legacy is devoted to patrolling rogue populations that menace an already good-

enough society.

Tony Blair's demand that black communities do something about gangs and guns and knives

is only a way of not doing something about a society that harvests gangs and guns and

knives - because it is a way of not doing something about boys. It is a way of not addressing

the fundamental correlation between masculine cultures and violence across all cultures and

classes.

To paraphrase Bill Clinton, its gender, stupid!

But that is unsayable in the mouth of New Labour, this most masculinist of political

discourses.

This is an era in which the tumult of gender in general and masculinity in particular has been

uniquely theorised and politicised. But masculinity dares not speak its name in new Labour's

language, and blame for menacing behaviour is re-assigned from men to mothers. The

problem is children "being brought up in a setting that has no rules, no discipline, no proper

framework". That is proxy for no fathers.

Blair's command to black communites implies that gangs and guns and knives and crime are

specific to black neighbourhoods, to both their blackness and their community culture. These
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themes are furtively gendered - as if black boys are immaculately conceived, they have no

fathers, and in this domain deserted by men, parenting is soggy, and black boys become

bad because they're unmanned.

But violence and crime have a potent logic: for their perpetrators they yield power and

control; the criminologist James Messerschmidt arguesthat they are a resource of

masculinity in the quest for dominion.

Gangs and violence flourish in contexts of hyper-masculinity, where men re-interpret respect

as dominion, where depression manifests itself as dangerousness, where slights can't be

soothed, where nothing is more important to a man than his reputation - not even his life.

Hyper-masculinity encourages men to admire the scariest men, to depend on women while

they disrespect and disavow them. Above all, it insists that men must be not like women;

boys' masculinity is forged by grown men as mastery, and its antithesis, martyrdom.

The problem is not a lack of so-called role models, but mainstream masculine cultures in

black and white communities that sponsor force as a way of doing men's business.

This is difficult for Blair, or course. He can't address war on the streets as "kind of a guy

thing" - as Mel Gibson famously put it - because he is the most unexpectedly macho, war-

mongering British prime minister since the second world war. His fabled grin is the smile on

the face of a tiger.

Blair claimed legitimacy for his speech from his conversation with a black pastor. But Blair

didn't bother to engage with the speech made only a few days earlier by the eminent black

scholar and activist, Professor Gus John, at the teachers' union conference during Easter.

Gus John knows something about this stuff - he has been researching community crime and

the fate of black (and white) children for decades. He is an expert on neighbourhoods

struggling to confront gangs and guns. He lends his energy and his authority to movements,

such as Mothers Against Guns, which deserve - but didn't get - the prime minister's

commendation.

Blair's approach is "wholly irresponsible," Prof John commented. "It is inconceivable that you

could locate this in one section of society."

Furthermore, to absolve the social context was to ignore history: "It is an indictment of the

society that 60 years after the Windrush bearing 300 passengers from the West Indies

landed in Britain their descendants are still under-achieving and, worse, they are

internalising their under-achievement and imploding."

That aching indictment is also the prime minister's legacy.
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Youth shot 'for living in the wrongplace'

Teenage victim died in parents' arms Police investigate local gang rivalries

Karen McVeighSaturday November 17, 2007The Guardian

Police were last night investigating whether gang rivalry was behind themurder of a teenager who was fatally shot after being asked what estate helived on.

Etem Celebi, 17, a lifeguard and promising footballer, died in the arms of hisparents, Kemel and Heyriye, yards from his home in Stoke Newington, northLondon, after medics fought in vain to save him. He was shot in the back onWednesday night as he celebrated getting his job as a leisure centre lifeguardwith his friends. His death brought the death toll of teenagers shot or stabbedin London to 23.

Residents on the Smalley estate, who described Celebi as a bright youngman trying to make something of his life, said he was a "good person" whohad been in the "worst place at the worst time".

One local man said he believed he knew the identity of the killer. The man, inhis 40s, who would not be named, said the killer was from a gang from nearbyStamford Hill, who were looking for revenge after one of their members, also17, was stabbed days earlier.

He said: "That's why they came over. They didn't care who they killed andEtem was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know the person whodid it and they've been in trouble before. They've shot people and stabbedpeople before and they've been in prison."

Yesterday, a close friend of Celebi's, also 17, told the Guardian how he toowas pursued and shot at by the gunman, but managed to escape.

The teenager, who was too afraid to give his name, said the friends weregathered together in the street near their homes when it happened.

He said: "There were four of us. I was play-fighting with Etem, when these twoguys came around the corner. One said: 'What ends are you from?' meaningwhat estate you from.

"Another boy said, 'from about' and the next thing, this guy pulls a gun andeveryone scatters. He chased me and fired three shots. I ran straight to myhouse.
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"My brother and Etem hid behind a car, but the guy came around the car. Mybrother saw the gun and ran.

"The guy aimed towards the car and fired another shot. The fourth was atEtem and another three shots were fired at my brother."

He said the killer was not wearing gloves and that he thought he may have leftfingerprints on the car, a VW Golf, which had been taken away by police to beexamined. Yesterday, officers carried out further searches of the area.

Jason, 22, a friend of Celebi's who went to school with him in StokeNewington, said he was not into gangs or guns. "He was never one forfighting. Although whoever did this was in a gang, he wasn't. All he caredabout was doing his football and getting good grades ... Etem was one of thebrightest and most loyal person round here. It was a senseless killing."

Scotland Yard confirmed that officers were investigating whether the shootingcould be gang-related.

Around the corner from where he died, next to police tape sealing off thescene, his friends laid flowers and candles in tribute to the teenager.

Tributes were also posted on his website, where he described himself as acollege student with the nickname Eazy-E.


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The fashion status of guns is leading to an increase in murders, accordingto community leaders and politicians reacting after a teenager was shotdead in his own home.

Billy Cox, 15, who was due to start a college course next September, was shot inthe chest in Fenwick Place, Clapham, on Wednesday afternoon.

He was the third teenager in two weeks to be shot dead in south London.

Reacting to Billy's death, Claudia Webbe, who is vice chair of the independentadvisory group to the Metropolitan Police's Operation Trident, said youngsterswant to be seen with weapons.

"Guns have gone from the domain of the crack cocaine dealers to now being aneveryday accessory, a fashionable accessory, that young people want to be seen

with," she said.

"It's become a lifestyle choice... part of a culture to be part of a gang.

"I think that's what's motivating young people, where a gun has become almost astatus symbol demanding respect and power."

'Decent young kids'

Peter Robbins, a Lambeth councillor, insists that although gun crime was a

problem, it was wrong to portray the area as "the Wild West" as only a minorityof youngsters were involved in gun crime.

"There seems to be a willingness for people to almost ignore guns when they see

them... but the vast majority of young people on the Fenwick Estate and in theentire area are decent young kids," he said.

Jennifer Blake, a local community worker, said the main problem was "easy

access" to guns and a breakdown of communication between the youths andtheir parents.

The teenager was found dead in hisown home

"Parents need to know more about, and understand more about, where thesethings are coming from.

"There's a concern with parents because they want to know where these guns are

coming from and how easy to access they are."

Ben Okechukwu, father of Ruth Okechukwu, who was stabbed to death by RobertMalasi in 2005, also endorsed this view.

He said "not enough is being done to check the infiltration of guns and knives".

On Wednesday, Malasi was jailed for 30 years for killing Ms Okechukwu andshooting dead Zainab Kalokoh in Peckham.

The Metropolitan Police has set up a special taskforce to investigate the recentspate shootings in south London.

Billy Cox was shot in the chest


11/17

How should society tackle gun crime?

How can gun crime be stopped? Will new measures help?

Home Secretary John Reid has outlined measures to tackle gun crime following asummit at 10 Downing Street with police and community leaders.

At the meeting, chaired by PM Tony Blair, tough punishments for those who use other

people to look after weapons were confirmed.

Other plans include more funding for community groups and making gang membershipa factor in sentencing.

Is gun culture spiralling out of control? Have you been affected by gun crime?

Will tougher new measures help tackle this problem? Is the lack of a fatherfigure in families a factor in gun crime?


12/17

Children as young as six require intervention from theauthorities to stop them becoming involved in gangsand gun crime, the PM has told the BBC.

"Specific measures" were needed for a "specific number offamilies who are just outside the mainstream", he said.

Tony Blair was speaking after a No 10 gun crime summit at

which plans were outlined for tougher punishments and morefunding for community groups.

But community groups said legislation alone would not solve the problem.

The summit with police and community leaders follows a spate of fatal shootings involvingyoung people.

Speaking from Liverpool, where he had been visiting a

community justice project, Mr Blair said: "You've got tointervene very early with these children, sometimes aged six

or seven you can tell that these children are going wrong."

The intervention should come "not necessarily from central government" but from "here inthe local community", he said.

"For this specific number of families who are just outside the mainstream of society youneed very specific measures."

And he said help could come from "within these communities" with initiatives like reformed

gang members talking to youngsters.

Aggravating factor

Earlier, speaking outside Downing Street after the gun crime summit, Home Secretary JohnReid confirmed tough punishments for those who use other people to look after weapons.

Mike Todd, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, had told the conference children asyoung as 13 had been found with firearms which they had been asked to hide for others.

Other plans include more funding for community groups and making gang membership anaggravating factor in sentencing.

Mr Reid also announced a review of the legislation on gangs, guns and knives at themeeting of community leaders and crime experts.

The review will cover sentencing policy - including that involving juveniles - gun supply andgang membership.

Mr Reid said he would also "lay an order or any orders that are necessary" to make sure aminimum sentence for a gun offence "truly is a minimum sentence" even for those aged 18

to 21.

Police have been handling a spate ofshootings recently

For this specific number offamilies who are just outside

the mainstream of society you

need very specificmeasures

Tony Blair


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Although a five year minimum was introduced in January2004, the appeal court found last March that because of aclash with separate legislation it could not be applied tothose under the age of 21.

Gun crime in the UK is still rare with 50 deaths in 2005/2006compared with 78 the year before.

But the number of recorded gun crimes in the UK rose tomore than 21,500 last year compared to just under 14,000

in 1998.

A number of community leaders attending the meetingwarned that Britain was in danger of creating a generation of"urban child soldiers" and said young people needed to beoffered an "exit strategy".

Rev Nins Obunge, of the churches group Peace Alliance, said

changes in legislation would not help support young people"who need an exit strategy".

Shadow home secretary David Davis welcomed "thesentiment from the home secretary".

"But where is the action on family breakdown, truancy andstopping drugs and guns from coming into the countrythrough our porous borders?," he said.

There have been five fatal shootings in London in the past month, three of which were ofteenagers in the south of the city - two of them killed in their own homes.

Hundreds of people gathered in south London at dusk on Thursday for a "prayer walk" -organised by a coalition of black churches - through the boroughs of Southwark andLambeth, both blighted by recent killings.

HAVE YOUR SAY

Guns, knives, hard drugs,

gangs are just symptoms of amuch bigger problem

James Mitchell, London

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GUN CRIME

The number of people injured byfirearms in England and Wales has

more than doubled since 1998In 2005/2006, the number of gun

murders fell by more than a thirdfrom 78 to 50

There were 11,084 recordedfirearms crimes in 2005/2006 - up

0.12% on previous yearLondon, Greater Manchester and

the West Midlands account for54% of recorded incidents

Source: Home Office

Shame bad fathers -Cameron
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Forum from BBC NEWS

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How should society tackle gun crime?How can gun crime be stopped? Will new measures help?

Home Secretary John Reid has outlined measures to tackle gun crime following asummit at 10 Downing Street with police and community leaders.

At the meeting, chaired by PM Tony Blair, tough punishments for those who use other

people to look after weapons were confirmed.

Other plans include more funding for community groups and making gang membershipa factor in sentencing.

Is gun culture spiralling out of control? Have you been affected by gun crime?

Will tougher new measures help tackle this problem? Is the lack of a fatherfigure in families a factor in gun crime?

Added: Friday, 23 February, 2007, 13:14 GMT 13:14 UK

We need a return to traditional values. A clout round the ear from a teacher/policeman

and another clout if your parents found out that you had received a clout was proper

justice. Todays namby-pamby 'lets speak nicely to them and buy them an ice cream'system does not work. We are dominated by lily-livered do-gooders who spout

psychobabel about how it is everyones fault except for the person who commits the

crime. Short sharp and (momentarily) painful 'therapy' works. Bring back the birch!

atilla the bun, salford by the seaRecommended by 7 people


This may be a radical idea: how about encouraging young people to join the cadetmovement? You learn discipline, and get to 'play soldier' in a safe controlled

environment, including learning how to handle a firearm safely... when you have had"Do not point a weapon at anyone even in fun" drilled into you, it takes a determined

effort to even consider using one against somebody!

Megan, Cheshire UK

Recommended by 0 people

Added: Friday, 23 February, 2007, 13:01 GMT 13:01 UKTime to re-arrange priorities. For the next 3 months there should be saturation policingin known trouble spots and specific targeting of individuals and estates. There should be

100% stop and search in difficult areas (I can't believe the police don't know these).There should be raids of known premises (the police generally also know these). Use

the army if necessary. Yes, there will be the usual howls of rage that specific people arebeing targeted. So be it for the sake of the greater good

EddieD, Burnham

Recommended by 1 person


It's not catching the criminals thats the problem, it's the fact that our sentences are

laughable. Carrying a gun should get you at least 20 years inside with no probation,using it should mean you die in prison.


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Gun crime would then start to fall.

[Anthony_rat], England



"Enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy as in NYC"

Lessons from the US, with their murder rate????

dave, Warrington



We are often told by experts that men don't know what being a real man is. they'refearful that men think real masculinity is machismo, agression and violence and are

fearful that if men begin to assert themselves they will become wife beaters orsomething much worse. Actually men have been robbed of their role in society to take

responsibility for the family and the community and to lead as an example for theyoung men who are now using guns. role models are what these gun slingers need

J



Customs should stop focussing on beer and tobacco and concentrate on drugs and

firearms.

giles jones, cannock

Customs are understaffed. They scrapped the team in Falmouth (largest drugs andfirearms seizures). Problem solved. There have been no drugs or firearms detected

coming into Falmouth so a team is not justifiable there. But fags and booze are linkedto the drugs and gun crimes so you can't ignore it.

Luke Rogers, Bristol, United Kingdom



'people carrying fire arms can be understood and re-habilitated rather then being

locked up.'Said Peter, Wolverhampton

When the problem comes knocking on your door i hope you have the strength of your

convictions to carry on holding them.

Like any crime its one thing to punish and another to try to address the reasons whysomeone committed it. But when the crime involves a complete disregard for the right

of another to life, i say an eye for an eye has to be the rule.

[ukblahblahblacksheep], Brighton, United Kingdom



We should look at how the US tackles gun crime and adopt the 3 strike rule!Alot of thisstems from poor parenting, so what can we really do?The government cant be to

blame.

L Nunes, London

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Something like 95% of UK gun crime is linked to the illegal drugs trade. Despite billions

being poured into the "war on drugs" over several decades, drug use and drug-relatedorganised crime continue to proliferate. Repeated "get tough" initiatives have not

worked and will not work. You cannot stifle demand for drugs.

Time for a rethink. End this harmful prohibition and regulate the drugs trade. Thegangs' income will vanish as users turn to legal outlets, and most gun crime will melt

away.

Ed W, London



The Violent Crime Reduction Act (2006) contains clauses specifically designed to actagainst gun crime. This Act (despite some sound judgements within) still will not solve

the situation vis gun crime. A review is unlikely to affect the situation either. Theapparent ease with which criminals and gang members acquire handguns despite a ban

is the real point. The illegal importation of firearms, rather than the "conversion" of

imitations, is where Police and Customs should direct their efforts.MJ Pitt, London



Enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy as in NYC.

Jones, London



On what planet do John Reid and Tony Blair actually reside? Last week the news was all

about lack of places in prisons. Here they seek to champion the cause for the public by

advocating tougher sentences for gun crime. Have they forgotten there is nowhere toput these people? Or, more likely, do they think we, the public are so incredibly stupidthat a few meaningless words on the subject are enough to placate us? It is yet another

meaningless statement from this "Ship of Fools" government

danny streather, United Kingdom



Maybe we could start by banning the sale of toy guns of all sort, and follow it up withstopping our kids from watching violent tv programs and animations. Children only

emulate what they see and hear, so spend more time with your kids and teach themwhat is expected of them in (a) civil society.Input dictates output.

Ray, East London



It's funny, trying to understand the question without the understandings "why" they do

it, is a very difficult concept. If you want to find the answer, look to UNICEF for theanswer. But to understand why they do it, try living their lives, having parents with low

education with no willingness to appreciate their children due to lack of guidance.

Quotation: When a Child is born, he is born happy. When He grows up, he is more

corrupted.

Children needs guidance from parents at a early age.
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Richard, Smith

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