cuchulainn
Member
They'll be banning hardware stores next. After all, if the criminals are industrious enought to convert BB guns, they'll be industrious enough to use pipes and whatnot.
from the This is Local London site
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/...8.0.call_for_ban_on_air_guns_and_replicas.php
from the This is Local London site
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/...8.0.call_for_ban_on_air_guns_and_replicas.php
Call for ban on air guns and replicas
By Local London Reporter
London's mayor is calling for a total ban on air guns and replica guns, in a move which he believes could prevent hundreds of shootings.
At a briefing on guns and gun crime this afternoon, Lee Jasper, mayoral policy director on policing, is expected to say any product that looks like a real firearm should be made illegal.
The call comes as converted replica guns and firearms, enabled to fire live ammunition, are used increasingly frequently in shootings and hold-ups.
More than two-thirds of the handguns confiscated by the Met Police between January and September 2002 were converted from replicas; only 16% were 'real'.
Ken Livingstone, a former MP, is calling for changes to the Government's proposed Anti Social Behaviour bill, which is already geared to increase the legal age for air gun ownership to 17, and ban carrying of replicas in public.
The mayor believes the bill should go further: firstly creating new offences for manufacturing, importing or selling any product that looks like a firearm; and secondly requiring toy manufacturers to make toy guns only from clear plastic.
He would also like to see the possession of replica guns banned, just as owning a genuine handgun was made illegal in 1997 after the Dunblane massacre in which 16 children and their teacher were killed.
The Government's tightening of gun legislation comes after the shootings of two teenage girls in Birmingham at New Year.
The changes to rules on replicas is seen by many as a reaction to the shooting, two years ago, of Derek Bennett, by police who mistakenly thought his gun-shaped cigarette lighter was a real firearm.
Of the gun-related violent crime recorded in England and Wales approximately 34 per cent occurs in London.
The Government's white paper on Anti-Social Behaviour states: "The misuse of replica firearms has also resulted in considerable alarm. In inner city areas the police estimate that 50% of call-outs of armed police result from the sighting of an imitation firearm.
"This cannot be ignored and we intend to combat it by introducing a new offence of having an imitation firearm in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. As with air weapons, this offence will have a power to arrest and to seize attached to it."
The Anti-Social Behaviour bill is not concerned only with the ownership and sale of air guns and replicas. Other measures being introduced in the bill include:
Dealing with 'neighbours from hell' – making it easier for local authorities to fine noisy neighbours £100 and confiscate stereos.
Giving the police powers to close and seal crack houses within forty eight hours for up to three months.
Giving the police the power to designate areas, in consultation with local authorities, where they can disperse intimidating gangs of youths and take home unaccompanied young children out late at night.
Dealing with parents who do not control their disorderly children.
Tackling aggressive beggars, who intimidate and harass people and create fear in public places.
Removing automatic newspaper reporting restrictions on young people subject to anti-social behaviour orders.
Banning the sale of spray paints to under 18s and more robust powers for local authorities to deal with graffiti.
12:47pm today
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