Gun crime soars by 35%
(
UK Daily Mail) – The Government’s latest crime figures were condemned as “truly terrible” by the Tories today as it emerged that gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35% last year.
Criminals used handguns in 46% more offences, Home Office statistics revealed.
Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362.
It was the fourth consecutive year to see a rise and there were more than 2,200 more gun crimes last year than the previous peak in 1993.
Figures showed the number of crimes involving handguns had more than doubled since the post-Dunblane massacre ban on the weapons, from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871.
Unadjusted figures showed overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3%, but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures.
With new recording procedures taken into account the actual overall rise was just 2%, the Home Office said.
Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said: “These figures are truly terrible.
“Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are gun-related crimes, domestic burglary, retail burglary, and drug offences.
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why yes, banning guns works so well.
“The only word for this is failure: the Government’s response of knee-jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working and confused signals on sentences for burglary will not help either.