The Strategies Utilised in the US and UK to Tackle the Purported Rise in Knife or Gun Crime - Report Example

Effectiveness of the Strategies Utilised in the US and UK to tackle the Purported Rise in Knife or Gun Crime One among the major problems that countries like US and UK is facing today is the growing culture of gun and knife crimes. The debate over ownership of the gun in the US is now heating day by day. Many advocated that possessing gun is for self defense as well as for upholding the hunting tradition of the country. Others argue that possession of guns will definitely increase the criminal record of the citizens, particularly the children (Tartar.A 2008). The same concern is also voiced in the UK where evidences suggest that nearly 46 % of abnormal deaths are caused by guns. Many have warned that storing of firearms in homes would increase the cause of violent deaths (Some facts about guns. 2007). Even though many laws were framed by the authorities in US to curtail the carrying and possession of fire arms, it did not decrease the death rate due to firearms. In 2008 the US Supreme Court made a historic decision that ratified the decision by the district to curtail the rights of citizens to carry firearms in the city. The supreme court opinioned that action by the district is a clear violation of denying individual rights and freedom for carrying firearms. Persons who advocated against ban of carrying firearms put forward statistics related to crime and deaths in the US. In 1993, there were over one million firearm related crimes in the country. In 2005, it declined to 500000 incidents. They also pointed that firearms are not the only reason for violent deaths in the US. However records of the FBI clearly suggest that many crimes including homicides are related to firearms (Tartar.A 2008). In UK increase in suicides was due to use of firearms at home. To prevent crimes related to possession of firearms, UK passed two firearms amendment acts of 1997. Due to the passing of the act, there was a decrease of possession of handguns in Britain. Many handguns were handed over to the police by the individuals (Some facts about guns. 2007). It is estimated that American citizens uses firearms for at least 764000 times in a year to defend themselves. In 1976, Washington DC enacted a virtual ban on handguns. During 1976 and 1991, Washington DC’s homicide rates grew 200 % and the US rate grew by only 12%.The US government has passed the right to carry laws which requires the law enforcement agencies to issue permits to handguns to all applicants who are qualified. Licenses are issued considering age, clean criminal record, completion of firearms safety course etc. In 1986, nine states in the US had right to carry laws. In 1998 almost 31 states used the right to carry laws in which almost half of the USD population lived. In 19876, Florida adopted this law. As a result there was a drastic increase in violence. On February 1994, the Brady bill was introduced in the US to regulate possession of firearms. This bill stipulated a 5 day waiting period for handgun purchases. The local authorities were also given powers to conduct checks on purchasers of handguns. However in 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that conducting background checks was unconstitutional, as a result an amendment was made in 1998 where the dealers were authorized to conduct checks on all gun purchases and not hand gun purchases alone. The ironical fact after passing the bill was that during the first 17 months of the passing of the bill there were 7 people who were convicted for illegal attempts to purchase Handguns. On September 1994, the US administration passed the assault weapons ban bill which prohibited possession of semi automatic assault weapons for civilian use. But it is true that assault weapons accounted for less than 1% of gun related crimes in the US. The federal law 18 USC section 922 prohibits anyone who is under the age of 18 years to possess firearms. This law also prohibits dealers from selling guns to people below the age of 21. Even though these strict laws, it could not prevent the Columbian school massacre which killed 12 students and a teacher. This incident was seen as a loophole in the Brady law. There were about 9 school massacres since the Brady bill was passed (Agresti.J. 1999). Many people in US and UK believe that there should be more gun and knife control; moreover some think that there is a possibility that guns should be banned altogether. Some argue that gun control laws should not be changed. But there are several reasons that create a scenario that guns should be banned totally from civilian life. In the US many experts think that putting a ban on guns will not lead to reduction of gun related tragedies. Shooting incidents in schools of America have made things worse. Many strongly believe that possession and purchase of guns by civilians should be made illegal. Strong laws should be made to prevent minors, lunatic’s drug addicts from possession of guns. But the other side of this argument is that it is truly unconstitutional because the constitution itself allows the citizens to posses’ guns for protecting them as well as their property. Moreover another point to note is that if guns are banned totally, it would create opportunities for smuggling of guns. This will lead towards anarchy because the law abiding citizens will have the opportunity to defend themselves against burglars and smugglers who has possession of guns. Some people suggest that making the duration of getting a gun longer would reduce gun related crimes in the country. But this move would again create difficulty for people who really wish to posses a gun. It would also have a lesser impact on minors, lunatics and drug addicts because they can use illegal methods for possession of guns. Therefore the actual purpose of the law would not be met. This would also create a situation where some people would really steal guns from others. It would create a bunch of law uncaring citizens. The better way to prevent gun related crimes which is suggested by some law experts is to impose a bigger penalty for gun related crime. If persons are caught illegally with guns, they should be given stronger penalties. This would enable people to think twice before using and possessing a gun. Moreover the congress would also think about passing stricter laws without harming the individual rights and freedom of citizens. But the other side of this argument is that imposing a strong penalty on offenders would result in increase of violence to a small amount but people would still find ways to obtain a gun because they assume that they can obtain a gun to carry out a crime as well a get away with it also. Strengthening of gun and knife laws will not really prevent murderers for committing murder; it will make things difficult for them. Many criminals can overcome such laws through their experience and practice (Fan,P. 2004).   In Britain violence has increased two fold since the labor party came into power. Stabbings are a common thing in the streets of Briton. Many streets are infested and inhibited by youth gang’s armed with knife. This has prompted many from going outsides, particularly in the evening. Many staggering reports of knife related crimes are reported everyday in Britain.  The general public no longer trusts the police completely; many believe that the police close in on soft targets there by ignoring the real culprits. Distrust among the public have forced the police department to act quickly. More and more arrests were reported. However the culprits were released after the payment of a small fine for possession of knife.  Due to the indifferent attitude of the police authorities, the civilian movement in Britain is getting stronger now. Grass roots movements against violence are gaining momentum. Families of victims against crimes are getting more and more involved (Millar.A. 2008). The explosion of gun and knife related crimes in Britain have highlighted the real broken society there. The government is too slow in dealing with such crimes and laws used to prevent such crimes are totally weak. Increase in gun related crimes as claimed by some experts in Britain is possible due to the introduction of lenient immigration laws of the country. Crimes have increased considerably because of the influx of the immigrant muslim population into the British society. The government has taken wrong steps in tackling this problem the government have embarked on endless law and order initiatives to solve this problem. In spite of these efforts, the knife related crimes in the country are on the rise. The government has to think about policies other that policing and punishment to solve this menacing problem. More insight into the actual causes of the problem should be done to solve this problem. The number of knife-related muggings seems to be increasing quickly regardless of a wave of new laws and amnesties. Recently the British government has increased the penalty for carrying the knife in public from 2 years to 4 years of imprisonment. But this proposal was earlier voted against by the same ministers in the cabinet two years ago. Critics have blamed the government of missing a rational approach to undertake the problem and of resorting to knee-jerk legislative reaction. Even though many debates have been undertaken in these developed countries regarding violence, it is clear that there should be stronger gun control laws rather than feeble ones. Stronger gun control laws can reduce crime rates up to a larger extent. However having strong gun control laws also has its own criticisms. It is often said stronger laws would focus on the means through which the violence is inflicted rather than reasons for the resorting of violence. Critics argue that gun is just one medium to make violence. Having a softy approach on gun controlled violence has its own drawbacks. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, when gun related violence was on the rise in the US, a soft legal approach was adopted by the authorities. Under this approach n on arrest methods were used. Community driven efforts were given more emphasis. The juvenile courts adopted a more therapeutic approach and ignored punitive measures. The courts appealed and encouraged to the youngsters to give up arms. In spite of these measures, the violent rate in America did not come down. Another fear that is gripping America now is that during 2009, it was found out by the FBI that around 963 occasions there was attempt by Islamic terrorists to posses’ guns. This data was collected in between 2004 and 2009. This has created fresh headaches for the administration which has failed considerably to bring suitable laws to control gun related violence. The findings of the FBI have increased the responsibility of law enforcement agencies. . An interesting fact was what in 90% of the cases, terror suspects were allowed to purchase and posse’s guns. Their actions did not fall under the prohibitory lists of the federal system because they were not listed as convicted felons, fugitives or illegal immigrants. Terrorists with religious fundamental backgrounds in the US can easily purchase and posses guns now. This was true as in the case of Hasan a dreaded terrorist who had links with conspirators of 26/11. In Hasan’s case he had arms license that was obtained from Virginia as well as he possessed a semi automatic weapon. These cases was put off due to the provisions of the Tiahart Amendment named after senator Todd Tiahart who was a strong advocate for possessing of guns. Under this amendment, the purchase records of a gun should be destroyed immediately after 24 hours of the purchase if it was approved by the computer check run by the FBI’s national instant check system. The Tiahart Amendment has been criticized by many. It was often described as the paranoia of the gun selling lobby. Now American people are sick to hear new tragedies related to gun violence day by day. In this era of the 21’st century, an era embarked by modern communication methods, genetic engineering, medical marvels and the internet, it is simply foolish and absurd to go back towards the wild wild west days. The citizens of the country need not give up their struggle to purchase and posse’s firearms but use them in a more intelligent manner. But the real question that is arising under this scenario is that whether the government should act strongly to prevent gun related violence. Whether there should be stronger laws or soft laws. Does an American citizen really need to poses a gun and what should be the gun policy of the government. With regard to knife related violence in the UK, it is true that only a small portion of the youth has been drawn into the violent acts. The ironical fact also associated to this is that lots of media attention has gone onto it. Youths indulged in such criminal activities have some or the other failed life situations which have eclipsed their thirst to grow into a respectable and ideal citizens. Although knife related crimes have decreased since 1995, homicides have increased considerably in UK. The UK government has implemented a new programme called the Tackling knifes action programme. Critics to this legislation have shouted that this is clear headline chasing, crawling towards the tabloids with initiatives which are impulsive as well as wooing the voters. Evidences show that increased jail terms in fact has not decreased the crime rates. Moreover the increase in the use of stop and search options by the authorities has created severe civil liberties problem. It is also argued that some are mistakenly targeted. The real problem associated with such armed cultures is unemployment, failures in education, drug abuse, alchahol abuse, breakdown in families, poor parenting etc. it cannot be prevented simply through the policy of fairness and equality to all. People who are engaged in such activities should be given a sense of purpose as well as self respect. As well as a felling among themselves that they are part of the society and law abiding citizens. The education system should be revamped and the community service made effective. It is better to prevent such incidents than to cure. Before imposing different laws into the society, the root causes of violent behavior should be analyzed. A country cannot survive and grow with maniacs and insane people. But can grow with highly educated and rationally thinking people. The role of the government should be to support their citizens and not to impose punishment. Civil rights and liberties should be upheld regularly. If these are done such violent crimes can be reduced or abolished from the society. (Lepperd,D2007). In the US guns account for a larger share in the murder market. Even though the influence of laws have increased there seems to be no reduction in the rate of gun related crimes. An alternative argument against this fact is that possession of guns by the local citizens would in fact discourage people from committing murder using guns and knifes. Due to the influence of preventive laws crimes related to knifes are on the decline in US but gun related crimes remained constant. While comparing the crime rates between US and UK, it is clear that more murders are committed in the US with guns than knifes, while in UK knifes crimes are the most (Statistics 101: US Gun Crime vs. UK Knife Crime. 2009). References: Agresti.J. (1999)Gun Control Facts.Available: http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp Fan,P. (2004).  Gun Control Laws - Should they be altered? Available:http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=25547 Lepperd,D(2007) Knife crime doubles in 2 years. Available: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2284258.ece Millar.A. (2008). Knife Crime; Britain’s Shame. Available: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3387 Some facts about guns. 2007. Available:http://www.gun-control-network.org/GF01.htm  Statistics 101: US Gun Crime vs. UK Knife Crime. (2009). Available: http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1323 Tartar. A.( 2008) Gun Deaths in the United States. Available: http://crime.suite101.com/article.cfm/gun_deaths_in_the_united_states Read More