Gun crime has trebled across West Mercia police force area in the last eight years, adding to fears of a growing gun culture.Latest figures show police recorded 115 crimes in which guns, not including air weapons, were “reported to have been used” across the area in 2005/06. This compares with 38 in 1998/99 - showing an increase of 202 per cent.
Figures for the West Mercia force, which covers Shropshire, show the biggest hike was between 2003/04 and 2004/05, when incidents increased from 62 to 151.
A Home Office spokesman said the definition of a firearm being “used” ranged from either as a blunt weapon where someone was attacked with the gun, it was fired or used as a threat.
The data was disclosed to MPs in a written parliamentary answer.
The shocking figures come less than two months after Daniel Maxwell, 24, of Telford, was shot in the arm in Shrewsbury.
Mr Maxwell was shot while celebrating a friend’s birthday at Shrewsbury’s Buttermarket nightclub.
Police have said their investigation has been scaled down. A 19-year-old man from the West Midlands who was previously arrested has now been released from his bail obligation in respect of the shooting.
The Buttermarket shooting was the second time the community in Shrewsbury had been rocked by gun crime this year.
Constable Richard Gray was killed while on duty in Castlefields. Pete Medlicott shot the officer on May 6 before apparently turning the gun on himself after a domestic dispute.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation into the deaths and the circumstances in which Mr Medlicott came to hold various firearms. An inquest is due to be held in November.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith today reassured the public gun crime was still her priority. Ms Smith, spea-king two days after the fatal shooting of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool, conceded there were too many guns on the streets but pledged to help people feel safe.
Meanwhile six people are being questioned by police today over a street shooting in Letchworth Garden City which left two people seriously wounded.
By Sunita Patel and Rebecca Lawrence
24 Comments
I’m sure we will get comments here soon regarding modern gun culture that has evolved due to computer games and rap music.
I played games like this when I was a child, and we also played ‘Cowboys & Indians’ which in modern climates does not sound politically correct.
My conclusion is, bad parenting. Even with my role playing and use of computer games I was educated as to the difference between right and wrong.
Discuss…..
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its all getting very scary. Seems to constantly be shootings on the news at the moment
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The people of Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester should try hard to believe West Mercia’s claim (reference: West Mercia Police website) that violent crime has reduced throughout it’s force area by 25% since 2003 - Oh yeah ? How about the 202% increase in gun crime that the Star has made us all aware of today?
But my message to the public in the West Mercia area is: Please rest assured that one of the vitally important aspects of the drivel listed in the West Mercia website is that The West Mercia Police Band has an “impeccable reputation for musical performance”. Perhaps the West Mercia Police Press Officer could let us all know how much the Chief Constables nose has grown by next week?
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definatley matty, i used to play james bond games every day shooting allsorts, but it would never even cross my mind to do it in real life!
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Producing statistics like the above only add fuel to the problem, and publishing “Gang related crimes and Gun Culture crimes in the way the media nowadays only glamorises thing for the people committing the crimes.
We should spend less time taking surveys and statistics, and waste fewer resources on trying to understand the psychology behind why people do these things and concentrate on what’s important like (1) capturing these people, (2) making sure they get put behind bars and stay there and (3) make sure they learn their lesson and are used as an example to others thinking of using guns etc…
Lesser crimes are being brushed aside and those committing them are realising they can get away with them with the worst case being send to a cosy prison with TV and PlayStations for a few months and are then released for “Good Behaviour”.
We need to nip all crimes in the bud now and punish those who break the law.
In the end though your spot on Matty, I blame the parents also!!!!
Perhaps we need to start trimming the heard a little!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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whats that saying… the laws an ASS !
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I read recently in the New Scientist mag that studies show that minds that are used to seclusion for reasons like playing games, surfing the www, etc etc are prone to not think out of the box – resulting in people making decisions without consideration of the rest of us around them. This doesn’t necessarily mean all kids who play games or surf the web are going to turn into gun toting criminals, but the report said that they are likely have little understanding of consequence – prob because there are no consequences when you shoot 20 people on a playstation, and when people develop no regard for others or themselves things start to go wrong…as we are sadly seeing.
I feel that the young people around me are de-sensitised to a lot of things, they laugh at things that I wouldn’t even raise a smile at…..happy slapping, animal cruelty, lack of education and little regard for it, no respect for elders, they are constantly protected, they can get away with things these too easily, their goals (for some) are unrealistic too, but again, this is forced by the world of celebrity and the constant imagery of how the rich live.
I think kids are also wrapped up in cotton wool these days, yes times change but morals shouldn’t. That said, I agree with Matty that its also bad parenting.
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Blaming it on video games and movies is an easy cop out if you look at the number of consoles and games sold worldwide and compare that to the number of instances like this there is no comparison. The margin would of been closer by comparing them number of people who have ginger hair
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Perhaps West Mercia Police could also let us all know what happened to the half million pound Home Office grant that it was given for it’s now defunct ‘We Don’t Buy Crime’project which it spent on amongst other things 10 £5000 information kiosks that I am told by a serving police officer are now after three months use covered in dust in a storeroom at Shrewsbury Police Station.
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Interesting points that you raised there deedee and I do agree to an extent, but i don’t think that we can make excuses by blaming games consoles etc.
I know plenty of children (and their parents) that play games for unhealthy (IMO)lengths of time, yet they still remain stable and sensible due to good education and parenting.
Society is too easy to pass blame these days on environmental influences and the media, where the true blame should lie is with the parents. The ‘bad’ parents however blame society, schools, the government etc, yet never accept any responsibility. Its also an unlikely coincidence how the parents of these violent children seem to come from parents that seem to encourage or condone violence either in the playground or in the pub!
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I wasnt blaming “playing video games”, the report was exposing the functions and lack of functions when kids isolated for long periods of times, not interacting with anyone cant be a good thing, it will have no affect on some, little affect on others and huge affect on a few….
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the problem is the punishment is poor , you can kill some one and be out on licence in 12 years? 99.9% of guns used in crime are illegaly held guns , but the police seem to miss this point and say oh lets do a gun amnesty which is pointless toughen the sentence for murder etc and watch it go down 3 strikes and lock them up for good,
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It’s good to see that disarming the population has resulted in a decrease in gun crime just as the government promised.
Wait a minute…
Isn’t it just *US* that they’ve disarmed?
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I agree My Finch, there is no fear in people nowadays of the police or the law system.
The people in prisons should be doing hard manual labour, it shouldnt be a holiday camp
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andrew finch has got it spot on
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Andrew Finch is right. There’s no point in gun amnesties when only the innocent hand them in. The public have been disarmed while the criminals have an asernal of illegal weapons.
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The only thing that’s `adding to fears of a growing gun culture’ is the tabloid antics of the Shropshire Star.
I see that you had to go back eight years in order to find a big enough percentage increase to look eyecatching. You could have written this story as `gun crime falls in West Mercia area’ - 151 incidents in 2004/5, 115 in 2005/6 - but I guess that wouldn’t have suited your agenda.
Thank goodness that, despite your best efforts, you don’t have a monopoly on providing local news, so we still have sources of honest, non-sensationalist reporting.
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I completey agree with andrew finch! They have nothing to fear just a couple of months in prison at most, its an easy ride as they get treated better there than at home most of the time.
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So much for the tough gun laws!’
Criminals will get guns no matter what.
I now live in the US where gun crime is rife in the inner cities, mainly amoungst drug gangs. However I have the right to have a gun in my house and I can legally shoot any scum ball that breaks into my house. Incidentally I don’t own a gun but the point is I have the right to own a gun for my own and my families protection. Criminals don’t know who owns a gun and they think twice about robbing houses. Has that home owner got a gun or not and is it worth risking breaking into that house. The answer is usually no.
I personally don’t know anyone here who has had their home robbed. When I lived in Telford I knew of many people including myself who had their houses broken into.
I know where I prefer living and I know where I feel safest. Not the UK thats for sure
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Perhaps Christopher A.F. Parsons OBE would like to stop sniping at West Mercia Constabulary through this forum and tell everyone what he has done to protect our society. or is it really a case of other’s b&”*dy efforts!!
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What I did to protect our society Warrington North is simple - Following the Jamie Bulger abduction I developed with the self coordinated financial backing of ALL of Britains leading supermarkets (not public funds) what is a now a globally standardised policy to reunite children with their parents or guardians should they get lost in a retail environment. Further since it’s launch in 1993 it has consistently reduced the average separation time from 20 to under 5 minutes.
I worked for over 85% of the the schemes research and development during my own time and got the gratis services of amongst others one of the UK’s leading Consultant Clinical Child Psychologist, As well as this I invested approximately £5000 of my own money into the schemes development and took out a £2000 loan which I paid back MYSELF.
All these points can be fully documentarily substantiated and if necessary in the Shropshire Star. I have nothing to conceal when criticising West Mercia Police (least of all my name when commenting on these pages.)
“Other B*****s Efforts” is singularly the stalest of alternatives for the meaning of OBE of which incidently I am VERY PROUD of and not a second of this schemes research, development and final launch was ANYONE elses efforts.
We all look forward to hearing what Warrington North (not a pseudonym of course) has done to “protect our society.”
Sniping at West Mercia Police? - God knows (as well as the vast majority of the people of Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester) it needs as much criticism as possible until it casts off what a West Mercia Detective Chief Inspector once told me was it’s policy of “doing it all with smoke and mirrors.”
Put up or shut up Warrington North.
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Here’s a gauntlet Warrington North - How about we both reveal our FULL identity to the Shropshire Star (which from experience I trust with my life) and then publically take up this debate again?
In preparation for what I think may be an interesting media colloseum for readers I have given the Star my FULL identity and contact details (Tel No’s, Fax No & e-mail address) and FULL consent to run with it all in it’s editions should it wish to. Why not do the same so that we can have newspapers at dawn?
What’s that I hear you Say Warrington North? “The whole point of comments in this ‘forum’ is to retain anonimity” - Heard it all before. “Stand next to the pillars that you scribe your words of protest upon. For he that scrolls his comments for everyone to see and then slips into the darkness of the night is surely either unsure of what he has said or has no confidence in his beliefs”. T.E. Shaw (Lawrence of Arabia).
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While I’m sure Warrington North would *relish* the opportunity to get a phone call - or better yet, a visit! - from some old bloke with too much time on his hands, he’s not the one who was sniping at anything, ergo not the one who needed to prove anything.
Not that you have proved anything, of course.
You see, if you were wondering, my name is actually Ghengis Khan - yes, the legendary Mongolian leader! You’ve heard of me? I can release my name to the Shropshire Star to prove my identity, if you’d like - of course, the Shropshire Star *probably* couldn’t give a monkeys.
Welcome to the Internet, where an identity is about as meaningful and trustworthy as Tony Blair, and just as easy to prove inaccurate…
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Poetic Seth, but it’s all gone quite from the North corner hasn’t it. Or perhaps your are the spine of this jellyfish. Yep I’m an old bloke BUT happy in this country of good food, wonderful climate, total racial harmony, EXTREMELY low crime (because the police actually go out on patrol and not spend day after day writing reports and filling in forms) and low taxes. You may be Khan but you are I suspect VERY green.
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