Hope for the UK!

After a (couple of) high profile shooting(s), a lot of British police officers gathered to discuss the issue. They were raising attention to the fact that gun crime is up 20% since last year, but fortunately, it's still not up to the all time high level of the 1990's.

I was reading through this BBC article, and was delighted by a lot of things.

One of them was when they finally clarified the replica issue, criminals aren't converting replica's, they're restoring "deactivated" weapons. It's not uncommon for guns to have lead poured down their barrel/breech to deactivate them in Europe, so I do suppose this is possible, as opposed to getting a replica to fire a bullet rather take your own hand off.

But the real kickers were at the end:

"On the broader front, there was much nodding of heads when Home Office minister Vernon Coaker made a veiled criticism of the judiciary when he said he wanted more people convicted of carrying illegal handguns given the full mandatory minimum sentence of five years."

So now the police are calling to enforce the current laws to the full extent? Cheers!

"And perhaps the greatest applause of the day came for a speaker with neither a police nor a political background.
There were cheers and shouts of approval as delegates watched a video of Jagdish Patel, a brave shopkeeper from Rochdale who saw off an armed robber with a baseball bat.
Not an officially-approved response to a potentially lethal situation. But an encouraging example of a member of the public prepared to take a risk to stop gun crime. "


Wait, not only are they calling for the enforcement of current legislation, but they applaud a citizen who has successfully defended himself against a criminal?
I hope they keep it up!
Maybe some day the law abiding will be able to legally match the criminals in his toolset.