The English are scratching their heads… don’t the criminals know that guns are illegal?
Labour has been accused of losing control of gun crime as new figures show a sharp rise in armed robberies. Guns were used in 4,120 robberies last year – a 10% jump – including a 9% rise to 1,439 in the number of street robberies where guns were used.
There was also a rapid and unexplained increase in the number of times householders were confronted in their own homes by armed criminals. Residential firearms robberies show a 46% leap, a record 645 cases in England and Wales – up 204 on the previous year and four times the level recorded in 2000-01.
Gee, do you think assuring the criminals that their potential victims are unarmed might not be a great idea? Really?
The Home Office is trying to cover up by saying that “Firearm offences have fallen significantly, by 14% in the year up to September 2006, which amounts to 1,642 fewer incidents”, but of course, they don’t define a firearm office, which most likely includes the “crime” of merely owning a unregistered firearm.
So, fewer law-abiding people were caught with illicit firearms, but the criminals are making more use of them. Yeah, that balances out nicely.