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The event will look at how the growth in gun culture can be turned around,
and how we can all make a difference in our communities.
• What effect does gun culture have on society?
• What can community groups do to effect change?
• What can government do?
• Is even tougher legislation the answer?
• Or does this need to be tackled from a variety of fronts simultaneously?
In some parts of the country, and among some young people, the gun is
seen the ultimate status symbol, with young people carrying or using imitation
weapons to gain respect or intimidate others. Some of this is linked to
gang activity, itself linked to the illegal drug trade.
The overall level of gun crime remains relatively low (less than half
of 1% of all recorded crime). But this is no cause for complacency - people
are still being killed by guns on our streets and in our communities.
Although the UK already has some of toughest firearms laws in the world,
these will soon become even tighter:
• the Criminal Justice Act 2003 includes a mandatory minimum
sentence of 5 years imprisonment for possession or distribution of prohibited
weapons or ammunition.
• the Anti-Social Behaviour Act raises the age limit to 17 for
owning air weapons, bans the possession of air weapons and imitations
in public without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, and bans the
possession, sale and import of self-contained air cartridge weapons
The community event on 19 and 20 January will explore these issues and
develop a plan for future action to make a real difference to gun culture
and gun crime.
Together, we can tackle gun crime! |
