Britain’s Evening Mail provides the following wrenching and earnest op-ed piece, Let’s end gun misery:
The anguished mothers of Birmingham’s New Year party victims will brief a powerful body of MPs on the problems of gun crime in Britain’s inner cities.
Six months to the fateful day their daughters were shot, Beverley Thomas and Marcia Shakespeare are to give evidence to the group.
Pals Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare were gunned down outside a city hair salon when gangsters opened fire on a crowd of partygoers.
Charlene’s twin Sophie and a fourth girl, Cheryl Shaw, were injured in the same incident.
What they don’t tell you is that the shooter used a submachine gun – illegal to possess in England since the 1930’s. But they’re available on the black market along with other goodies like hand grenades.
Now the mothers will tell politicians of the heart-rending and long-lasting impact gun crime has had on them and the community.
Perry Barr MP Khalid Mah-mood told the Evening Mail: “It has taken a lot for both these women to take such a public stand and we should applaud them for that.
“They are standing out, demanding justice and refusing to be silenced.
And apparently risking getting killed for speaking up, since the criminals don’t seem to fear the police very much.
“They are a credit to the community and we will be interested to hear their views on tackling the menace of guns and the gang culture that spawns such violence.
“Also, I want to hear about how they have coped over these past six months, especially with having to bring up young children as well.”
Their appearance comes a week after West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Nicholas Tofiluk told the same Commons all-party parliamentary group how Birmingham’s image was being soured by gun crime.
He said: “A long-term issue that needs to be addressed is that in some parts of the city there is an emergent culture that sees guns as part of a lifestyle.
“These are issues the police alone cannot affect.” The MPs launched an inquiry following a nationwide “surge” in violence involving firearms over recent years.
Police on London’s Operation Trident, West Midlands’ Operation Ventara and Manchester Gang Strategy Unit have also given evidence.
Now, bear in mind that this is in a country where there are only about 600,000 legal shotgun owners and about 125,000 legal rifle owners, and ZERO legal handgun owners or submachine owners, or “assault rifle” owners outside the government. (The London police did recently upgun to the H&K G36 assault rifle.) And the legal ownership levels are declining each year.
But NOW there’s a SURGE of firearms involved violence. NOW there’s an “emergent gun culture.”
No, they killed the good “gun culture” and are left with the unfettered bad one.
What’s next, really really banning guns?
Let’s really end “gun misery” in England – teach people to defend themselves, and then let them carry and keep guns in the home. Nothing else seems to work. Banning sure as hell proved useless.