US Marine “Smuggled Guns” Into UK

This week comes word from multiple sources, including the BBC, that former U.S. Marine Steven Greenoe had been involved with smuggling guns into the U.K. Now the media will probably play up the fact that the guns were bought in America:

“A gun used in a fatal shooting in the U.K. was smuggled into the country on a commercial flight by a former US Marine, a court has heard. Shropshire-born Steven Greenoe, 37, bought weapons from American gun shops and hid the parts in his luggage, Liverpool Crown Court was told.”

However, we’ll counter and note that this just shows that even in lands where there is strict gun control illegal guns will still filter in. This is contrary to the notion that all “illegal guns” start out life as “legal guns,” an argument used time and time again by gun-control zealots. The fact that gun parts could be smuggled on commercial airliners shows that guns could likely travel the world.

In other words, gun control won’t work. Too many millions – yes millions, and likely tens if not hundreds of millions – of cheap firearms from the Cold War are still floating around the world in distant warzones. For gun control to ever work, and for the record we’re against it in any form, you’d first have to get rid of all those guns. In other words it is impossible.

Village Voice Blames Right Wing Blogosphere Over British Riots

The Village Voice’s column Exploring the Right Wing Blogoshere claims “Rightbloggers Find the Cause of England’s Riots: Gun Control and Black People.” That seems like twisted logic obviously, but the Village Voice offered this thought:

“Several rightbloggers were swift to blame gun control for the riots. True, gun-shy England’s murder and gun-related-death rates are much lower than gun-crazy America’s — even the hardcore Gun Owners of America argued in 2008, when confronted with this fact, that ‘the murder rates in many nations (such as England) were ALREADY LOW BEFORE enacting gun control.’”

So what is the Village Voice saying? It was true that England’s murder rate was already low before. Second, one aspect of England’s gun laws that are seldom addressed is that for centuries the military regularly marched through the streets of London. OK, they maybe in fancy dress uniforms but you think those guards at the palace only have guns for show? There are also now armed police – in less fancy uniforms but with deadly serious machineguns – at Parliament, at 10 Downing Street and elsewhere.

The other point missing in the Voice’s loud mouth coverage is that gun crime is on the rise, and criminals are smuggling in guns. The point here is that the criminals could outgun the police and the public. Shouldn’t the public have the opportunity to fight back, especially since they don’t have fancy dress guards at their door?

BBC: Guns as Easy to Get as Groceries

Don’t we hear all the time how countries with tougher gun laws have less crime, and fewer shootings? Doesn’t the mainstream media in America note this all the time? Well, the BBC has an interesting story that debunks that opinion.   

In a story about gangs and guns, one youth was quoted:

“Getting hold of a gun now is just as easy as walking into a shop and buying groceries.”

Not exactly the image that’s been painted in America about the U.K. But the truth is that gun crime is on the rise, despite the fact that public gun ownership is actually quite low. We fear this could be a future in America if the anti-gun zealots have their way. Guns will still be easy to get, as long as you’re willing to break the law.

Child Gun Permit Questioned

Numerous British papers are reporting on this story, but it was the take from The Times of India that caught our eye. Maybe the Indians have hard feelings when it comes to the British or something, but they took a rather biased line on how a British youth was able to acquire a gun permit. The paper noted:

“A 10-year-old in Britain cannot legally buy cigarettes or alcohol but it now turns out that a child has been issued a licence for a shotgun, the most used crime weapon in the country. In Bedfordshire county, the police issued 49 shotgun and other firearms licences to under-18s, including a child aged 10, in the last one year.”

While we’re not going to debate the British law, we will look at the bias. The difference here is that the child in question did get his parent’s permission. The paper notes that the shotgun is the most used crime weapon, which is likely true, but how many criminals actually apply for the license?

Moreover, how often do we see children “warriors” fighting in Africa and Asia, wielding AK-47s? All too often unfortunately. But the difference in this case is that the youth is a sporting enthusiast. There is no evidence that he is even playing at soldiers as they say in the U.K. In fact, while many teens have their youth stolen as they’re forced into arms, this child is doing it out of his own desires.

But clearly that point will be lost on most of the mainstream media.

Armed Police Patrols Up in London

The mainstream media in the United States typically reports that the U.K. has less gun crime, and often cites the fact that the police on the other side of the pond go around sans firearms. But the BBC is reporting that gun crime is on the rise.

This is worth noting, because ownership of firearms is strictly controlled. So to those gun-control types we ask, “where are the bad guys getting their guns?”

Mexico and Canada Still in the News, What About Europe and Asia?

Throughout the summer the American mainstream media took time to report on how American made firearms were supposedly fueling a drug war in Mexico, while the incidents of shootings in Canada was about because of American hardware.

Meanwhile, very little has been picked up in the States on the thousands of firearms seized in Australia and China – two nations were gun ownership is either difficult or impossible. For the record, private gun ownership in Communist China is entirely banned. And at the same time, unfortunately crime is up in the U.K., with cities like Manchester seeing a significant increase in gun crime in the past decade. However, this hardly gets any play in the United States.

The reason is likely crystal clear. In China, and in the U.K., it isn’t American guns that are in the hands of criminals. So for the MSM there is no story.

Firing Back: U.K. Proof of How Gun Control Doesn’t Stop Crime

Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s I was told how in the United Kingdom the police (The Bobbies) didn’t carry guns, and how crime wasn’t a problem. Over the years the U.K. has served as an example from the anti-firearms crowd on how crime was low, and gun violence was something that never happened. First things first. This was a misconception. The U.K. always had violence. Read more