why the upsurge in gun crime in britain???blades in scotland too!?

Answer 1

Illegal immigrants

Answer 2

A history lesson from Glasgow... In the early 19th century there wasn't an organised police force in the city - gangs were rife stabbings, gang wars, use of any weapon available it was like a scene from Gangs of New York.

Then a police force was formed there was a permanent presence on the streets - it took about 100 years but by the early 1940's the no nonsense approach by the Police "heavy squads" had removed the gang threat.

Now, what do we have? no policemen visible on the streets until AFTER a crime is commited, the criminals know this so we are seeing a return to the lawlessness of days gone by when the most important part of a Policemans uniform was the thick leather collar he wore to stop criminals from cutting his throat!
We need a return to the days of having the big 6' 6" policeman on the beat that has no compunction about cracking the odd skull as required.

The PC brigade have managed to give us a generation that know there are no consequences for their actions, no moral compass and an " I want - I get" attitude.

I'm seeing the same question being asked in various guises throught he different streams and the same common theme in the answers. There's a groundswell here that the politicians should be keeping abreast of and perhaps, just for once, actually doing something constructive about

Answer 3

Most of the recent gun and knife crime can be blamed on gang subcultures in big cities, especially London and Manchester. There are, of course, some knife/gun crimes that are not related to gangs, but most are.

The gang subcultures involved in gun crimes are usually formed by young, badly-educated, poor men - the fact that they are black is something that unfortunately goes hand-in-hand with these factors, since many, MANY young black boys are failed by the education system.

Sometimes the victims are gang members, sometimes they are not. Sometimes this is not quite established. For example, media reports on the murder of London teenager Paul Erhahon did not all agree on whether or not he was in a gang. Of the articles that I read on the case (I did a case study on this for a university assignment), three claimed that he was a member of the gang the Thatched House Boys (although the Mirror called it the Thatched House Thugs, because tabloids just love the word 'thug'), two claimed that he was not a gang member and several did not make a claim either way.

The victims are often black, whether or not they are gang members. This is most likely because gang violence occurs in predominantly poor (black) neighbourhoods, putting the local people at higher risk of victimisation. Ironically many white people (middle England, those Mail readers) are preocupied about becoming victims themselves... well it is simply very unlikely to happen unless you spend a lot of time in areas where gangs operate.

On a lighter note, overall crime, including violent crime, has actually reduced over the past decade. This is known from official statistics obtained from reported and recorded crime (although this leaves an unknown dark figure of unreported crime) and the British Crime Survey and other victim studies. The BCS is the biggest victim study in the UK and interviews many thousands of people in order to cast light on the dark figure of crime that goes unreported. The BCS confirms that crime has dropped in the past decade. (Ironically the prison population has soared.)

So we do have a serious knife/gun crime problem in the UK at the moment, but for the most part that is contained within certain subcultures and the government needs to come up with a truly helpful policy to turn poor young men away from gang subcultures.

The new role models idea for black teenagers is a nice one, but a bit far-fetched in my opinion. It proposes that black teenage boys should be inspired by black businessmen, high-ranking black police officers et cetera. These people may be of the same race, but they have completely different backgrounds. Black businessmen were mostly born into an advantaged background, black teenagers falling victim to gang subcultures are among the most disadvantaged people in Britain!

Answer 4

I put it down to the lack of political will by all party's. We all know drug dealing is behind most of the gun crime and the large amounts of money that it generates. If the Police where to really crack down on the problem, we would get the inner city riots again. In my own opinion we should make a stand now.

Answer 5

For about 20% of our youth today, we have

low pay, bad housing and little or no prospecks.

So is there any wonder why we have so much trouble on our streets today.

Where i live all the industry and good well paid jobs have gone to china, WORK is the backbone of any society with it you gain discipline, Friends, confidence, Pride, all we have left now are low paid NMW jobs run by agencys who treat people like cattle who sometimes pay you for the work you have done.
So don't think we will be like america where they have vast spaces between thier towns and cities.
We in the UK have a large population but very little land, so what affects your neighbor will effect YOU..........

Answer 6

The policeman on the beat has gone, they had a good knowledge of their areas ,and how it ticked, Now, if you telephone for help, they are too busy. IObviously the police force needs to double in numbers. We have to look at how France and Spain is policed, and move on, to use tactics which make the country a safe place, in which people can rear their families. And also, are criminals from other countries an asset to our country ?.

Answer 7

I think its just we are more aware because of more media coverage.

Despite this I do believe gun crime is an issue that needs tackling hard. Guns are easy to get hold of and pistols are the number one choice of weapon for the drug dealer I have been to many shootings, most of which are gang / drug related. Most gangs that deal have access to firearms and are not afraid to use them.

Answer 8

Upsurge, its always been like that, its just getting more media attention now which seems to make it worse than it has been.

Answer 9

What a shame we cannot discuss this without the scummy racists bouncing in and giving their filthy propoganda.

This is nothing to do with race...it is about the disenfranchised creating abusive sub cultures. It is as old as human existence.

Give someone with a gun no hope, and what do you think will happen? Is that complicated?

Answer 10

They've been on about knife crime in Scotland since the 1930's.

Answer 11

Class division and social alienation as usual. Reminiscent of just pre-Thatcher? The post war glow was gone?