Coventry Evening Telegraph Report

[djgeoff]

this might make interesting reading, it was in my local paper and on their web site, heres the link http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/cove...92746-26747467/

 

or read below

THERE are more than 10,000 legally owned guns in Coventry and Warwickshire, the Telegraph can reveal.

 

The shock figures show that in Coventry alone 1,226 people can legally own and fire shotguns.

 

And in Warwickshire, a whopping 8,712 people are registered to use a shotgun.

 

The figures were revealed following two Freedom Of Information act requests from the Telegraph.

 

In Coventry it costs just £50 to apply to police for a firearms or shotgun certificate. The application form includes space to list up to 12 owned weapons.

 

The subject of legally owned guns has been thrust into the public eye after Derrick Bird killed 12 people with a legally owned rifle and shotgun in Cumbria last month

 

The shootings in Hungerford in 1987 that killed 16 people and the 1996 Dunblane shootings where 16 children and one adult lost their lives were all committed with legally held weapons.

 

Professor Peter Squires, a criminology and public policy expert and a member of the Gun Control Network, said that a number of different measures could be considered to try and prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

 

“There needs to be more transparency,” he said. “If a GP notices that a patient is starting to go off the rails, like in Cumbria, there ought to be some way of reporting that if they have a firearms licence.

 

“Also I believe there is no problem keeping guns in their house, but do gun users really need to keep ammunition there as well?

 

“Can people not plan their gun use and buy appropriate ammunition at the time?”

 

In Coventry 268 people own firearms certificates, meaning they can legally operate any “lethal barrelled weapon” that is not a shotgun or illegal. Some 1,226 people can own and fire shotguns.

 

In Warwickshire 2,063 people have firearm certificates and 8,712 have shotgun licences.

 

In the last two years 19 Coventry people have been prosecuted for illegally possessing weapons or ammunition. In Warwickshire 40 people were prosecuted

 

Simon Clarke from British Association for Shooting and Conservation, the UK’s biggest shooting organisation said: “On a country by country basis the number of legally owned guns in the UK is about average.

 

“You also have to remember there are large rural parts of Warwickshire and guns are used by farmers because in many cases they are the only legal method of pest control.

 

“And since the Dunblane tragedy in 1992 targeted shooting pistols were banned but that hasn’t stopped them becoming a weapon of choice for criminals.”

Edited June 29, 2010 by djgeoff

[groach1234]

this might make interesting reading, it was in my local paper and on their web site, heres the link http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/cove...92746-26747467/

 

Professor Peter Squires, a criminology and public policy expert and a member of the Gun Control Network, said that a number of different measures could be considered to try and prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future.

 

“There needs to be more transparency,” he said. “If a GP notices that a patient is starting to go off the rails, like in Cumbria, there ought to be some way of reporting that if they have a firearms licence.

 

“Also I believe there is no problem keeping guns in their house, but do gun users really need to keep ammunition there as well?

 

“Can people not plan their gun use and buy appropriate ammunition at the time?”

 

What utter tosh

 

George

Edited June 29, 2010 by groach1234

[djgeoff]

[/color]

 

What utter tosh

 

George

yep thats what i thought, have they got nothing else better to do?

[Imperfection]

Must be very quiet on the news front in Coventry for them to drag all this up!

[snozzer]

Bet there is double the illegal number of firearms in Cov especially wood end, bell green, hillfields etc

[camokid]

load of bull. there was one nutter on a rampage so what look at the deth rate of knifes and attacks a year if he did not have a fac he would of used something els a hammer a knife axe metal bar you can kill with anything. im proude to be one of that 1000 odd respectable fac holders in cov

[RC45]

yep thats what i thought, have they got nothing else better to do?

Probably not!

[Vince Green]

Many more people die every year in horse riding accidents. Actually horse riding is one of the most dangerous sports around. But horse riders kill themselves and not other people, and not 12 in one go.

Edited June 29, 2010 by Vince Green

[the running man]

My wife asked me wat I was laughing at the other day,it was that squires bloke on the tv bangin on about keepin ammo at the cop-shop! I couldent believe how I'll informed he was and what qualified

Him to even talk about it? He knew nothing about shooting,nothing at all.as do all these idiots on the tv.I challenge any one of them to a debate,any one of them.

[djgeoff]

Bet there is double the illegal number of firearms in Cov especially wood end, bell green, hillfields etc

 

yep u might be right there lol, quite a few yrs ago i was working in a property and the occupier nipped out, and left me to do my job.

i entered a room, on opening the door to the room i knocked something over behind the door.

 

when i took a look to put back the fallen item, to my amazement it was the old type SLR, at first i thought it was a rep,but as i have shot one of these at army cadets and on picking it up, it thought no it ain't.

 

checked the for the magazine which was missing and checked the spout then the serial number had been tampered with.

 

to cut along story short i called the old bill who sent ( no disrespect to other wpc,s) a dippy one who said do i think its real, i said yeh.

she got one the radio then said you aint seen me do this, put some gloves on and searched the room and found four pistols in bedside draws along with ammo, and asked me what i thought of these, i replied im no expert i dont know.

 

at that she called in and with in mins had armed response , whirly bird the whole lot outside.

 

anyway days later it was in the paper ( not me thank god) but it turned out the SLR was real along with two pistols the other two were a modified starting pistol and six shooter ( as in the cowboy type)

 

I did wonder after informing the ol bill if i would become a target for grassing, but i thought i could not forgive myself if days later i heard about a shooting and someone had died so i took the chance.

Edited June 29, 2010 by djgeoff