“I think I am getting paranoid. When I heard about the tragic murders in Cumbria and the fact that this shooting spree had gone on for two hours my heart sank. Mainly for the victims and relatives of this attack, but also because I was just waiting for the police to be blamed.”Wait no longer, Thinking Policeman! The ‘Telegraph’ is on the case!
It emerged on Wednesday that Bird was granted his gun licences despite having a previous criminal conviction for theft, highlighting an apparent weakness in the law.Because if you’re a tea-leaf, obviously you are a potential mass-murderer at some time in the future!
Alan Johnson, the shadow home secretary, called for a review of gun legislation to assess whether tougher follow-up checks were needed on gun owners – especially on their mental state.Really, Postman Prat?
Pardon my impertinence but weren’t you lot in power for the last 13 years? Did it never occur to YOU to close this ‘glaring loophole’ that now seems so obvious to you?
Bird had a shotgun certificate since 1995 and a firearms licence, which allowed him to own a .22 rifle, since 2007. Both weapons were used in Wednesday’s killings.
According to Home Office guidance, the taxi driver’s conviction for theft in the 1990s would only have to be “considered” and would not have prohibited him entirely from possessing a firearm or shotgun.
So, HO guidelines are clear that this wouldn’t have necessarily been a stop on his obtaining a license, so we can’t blame the local police for…
Oh. We can, it seems:
It means Cumbria police could have stopped him having a gun licence, but chose not to.
Well, yes, and no doubt they are now looking to see if they missed any warning signs but what if there were none?
They are cops, not psychics...
Cumbria police’s policy means officers are only expected to reinterview applicants when they renew their licence a second time. A holder could go 10 years without close scrutiny.
And what would ‘close scrutiny’ have shown?
We don’t know. We may never know.
So why not stop looking for ways this might have been prevented if we employed people with supernatural powers and start looking for ways in which this might have been prevented if we employed human beings?
Liberalise gun laws so that people can shoot back?
ReplyDeleteThis, apparently, works against illegally held guns as well as legally held ones.
While they were in power Postman Prat (love it!) and his idiot friends spent 13 years blaming the eeeeevil Tories for everything from bad weather to the banking crisis. Soit's not surprisinmg now they're out of power they're doing just the same.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I heard some 'new' MP blathering on about psychological evaluation at regular intervals for the holders of shotgun/firearms licences. It can only get worse. I'm rapidly of the opinion that every citizen should have the right to carry a firearm. There may be a killing frenzy in some of our more diverse urban areas but things should settle down after a while. If the baddies knew they risked getting shot at they may think twice!
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting for the 'lessons to be learned' bit.
When I was a Police Officer we had to conduct an annual check on a gun owner's security arrangements for the weapons he held in his house. Lockable steel gun cabinet? Check. Two locks? Check. Cabinet bolted to concrete wall or floor? Check.
ReplyDeleteThen some barmy idiot required that we "assess the psychological state" of the gun owner who had to be present during this annual inspection.
I solemnly wrote in my first report under this new requirement that upon my arrival I noted that the gun owner was not seen to be wearing a tin-foil hat nor did I see any signs of salt circles on the floor. The report was accepted with equal solemnity!
A firearms licence holder had an over the fence dispute with his neighbour and had been a bit threatening.
ReplyDeleteHis licence was suspended and we had to seize the guns, a 'prevention better than cure' situation.
But he took our Force to County Court where he got his licence and the guns back.
What I am saying is seizing the taxi driver's guns may not have been the end of the story.
"Liberalise gun laws so that people can shoot back?"
ReplyDeleteI've no objection in principle to that. I just don't think that it would necessarily have prevented this incident.
Short of dis-inventing the firearm, I don't think anything would. Even then, he'd have found another way.
"Soit's not surprisinmg now they're out of power they're doing just the same."
Oh, indeed not. No use expecting a politician to have a sense of shame.
"I'm still waiting for the 'lessons to be learned' bit."
It's been a little absent from the airwaves, hasn't it? Maybe because it seems that no-one really learned the lesson of the last shootings?
"Then some barmy idiot required that we "assess the psychological state" of the gun owner who had to be present during this annual inspection.
I solemnly wrote in my first report under this new requirement that upon my arrival I noted that the gun owner was not seen to be wearing a tin-foil hat nor did I see any signs of salt circles on the floor. The report was accepted with equal solemnity!"
*chuckle*
Well, they expect police officers to be social workers now - might as well expect a bit of psychology and fortune-telling as well!
"But he took our Force to County Court where he got his licence and the guns back.
What I am saying is seizing the taxi driver's guns may not have been the end of the story."
No, indeed. But the blamestormers and scapegoters are out in force.
BRITAIN IS DEAD, LONG LIVE ENGLAND?
ReplyDeleteBNP (Black National Party)
The BNP (Black National Party) has been created to expedite the work of the Race Equality Secret Service (RESS).
The BNP (Black National Party) gets stronger as "STORMFRONT" gets weaker.
http://raceequalitysecretservice.blogspot.com/2010/02/bnp-black-national-party.html