Gun Crime :: Wessex Scene Online

Gun Crime

23rd January 2003
Ellie Harrison-Read News editor

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When scenes akin to downtown Los Angeles dominated the recent national media, the nation was collectively forced to take a sharp intake of breath. This was not the west coast of America, but the West Midlands on our screens; the brutal drive-by shootings of Aston girls Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespear catapulting Birmingham into the media and police spotlight.

Nearly 10,000 crimes involving firearms were recorded in Britain last year, which, in comparison with the 7,362 offences recorded the previous year, provokes a very real cause for concern. These imposing figures have prompted the government to take action by introducing measures in the fight against gun crime. Home Secretary David Blunkett has given the green light to a firearms amnesty, and an automatic five-year sentence for those caught in possession has been raised. A number of projects, such as the Met Police initiative ‘Operation Trident’, have been set up in Britain’s inner city hotspots to target the use of guns.

Despite these measures, the barrage of gun attacks shows little sign of abating. On a more local scale, Hampshire has seen a disconcerting increase of 18% in the number of recorded firearm incidents. Evidence that gun violence is not confined to inner city ghettos came last September, when a Southampton Institute student was stopped and threatened by a gunman in the Northam area. In April a masked robber held up a service station in West End at gunpoint, whilst October saw an armed raider make off with cash from the HSBC bank on the Lower Northam Road.

Speculation is rife as to the possible roots of this countrywide epidemic, with Blunkett spearheading the argument that hip-hop’s glorification of violence is partly to blame, and others suggesting that marginalisation and depravity are the main causes. Whilst the political sparring swings to and fro, the facts remain that the flow of firearms to Britain has worryingly increased, and biting the bullet before another gun related death makes the front page is surely what the country needs.