sorry to drop in late here....
I saw this story and thought that it was an excellent illustration of two points which seem to be misunderstood by the British:
1. The criminal will arm himself if it confers an advantage, regardless of the law or of police 'attitudes' toward armed criminals.
2. The citizen/victim DESERVES the right to be armed for self-defense.
Violent crime is certainly increasing in Britain, and banning guns has not had any positive effect upon the increasing use of firearms in crime.
************************************************************
Telegraph.
Woman jeweller shot dead in raid on family shop
By Nick Britten
(Filed: 01/10/2003)
The owner of a jeweller's shop was murdered in front of her husband and
daughter yesterday after fighting off two armed robbers during a raid.
Marian Bates was shot in the chest at point blank range after two men
burst into the shop at lunchtime and demanded thousands of pounds worth of jewellery.
Mrs Bates refused and, with her husband, Victor, and daughter, Xanthe,
put up a struggle. As Mrs Bates tried to fend off the men, one of them shot
her with a pistol.
As the robbers fled empty-handed, Mrs Bates died at the scene. Mr Bates
and Xanthe suffered head wounds in the struggle and were being treated in hospital last night.
Mr and Mrs Bates, both in their sixties, had run the jeweller's at the
Time Centre in Arnold, Notts, for 30 years and were approaching retirement.
Last night detectives found the killers' getaway vehicle, a scooter
stolen a month ago, abandoned with its engine running.
Chief Supt Richard Johnson, of Nottinghamshire police, said: "There was
a struggle, which resulted in a handgun being drawn and the woman shot in the chest. It was basically an armed robbery that went wrong.
"The shop is just a little family-run business and probably considered
a soft target. We don't think there was a secure entrance with a buzzer
or anything like that. It would have been a much easier target than a
chain or city centre branch." The business is situated at the heart of a busy
suburban shopping street and stands opposite a Co-Op store and close to
an Asda supermarket, which were both busy at 1pm, the time of the
shooting.
Chief Supt Johnson added: "We are desperate to catch the people who
carried out this crime as quickly as possible and to retrieve the weapon used.
"These were nice people going about their daily business. No one
expected this to happen to them. The people who did this are obviously very dangerous."
Police warned shoppers and residents to stay inside during the
aftermath of the shooting until it became clear that the gunmen had fled the scene.
One of the robbers was described as white, 5ft 4in in his late teens or
early twenties of medium build with brown eyebrows. The other was
described as 6ft, in his late teens to early twenties of scrawny build. He wore dark jeans, a dark motorcycle jacket and black trainers. He was carrying a black rucksack and a crowbar.
Police appealed to a pedestrian, who is believed to have seen the men
speed off, to come forward.
Brian Walker, 75, a friend of Mr and Mrs Bates for 30 years, said:
"I've got to say it was a pretty cowardly act to attack an elderly couple in a
little shop like this. This kind of thing is happening all the time today.
People just think they can take what they want."
East Midlands Ambulance Service said the injuries suffered by Mr Bates,
who lived with his wife in Ravenshead, Notts, and his daughter were not
life threatening. They are being treated at Nottingham's Queen's Medical
Centre.
