I'd just like to record my condolences to the people of West Cumbria, and thank them for their forbearance at this shocking and difficult time, while they are inundated by the news vultures.

I'm finding it difficult to take any news reporting seriously these days. Presenters are parachuted into a disaster zone, for no good reason I can see; inane questions are asked of all and sundry. It's a circus.

The police press statement last night was the best. The officer gave his statement and answered quite a lot of questions, but stuck to his guns that he was not going to speculate about anything until the investigation came up with answers. Good on him, I say.

Agreed. Especially about the inane questions. I saw one of the muppets asking a young girl who had apparently been shot at if she had been terrified. I couldn't help but shouting at the screen "No, it was the most fun I've had since I went to Alton [LIFTED] Towers!"

Cretins.

I thought it was sealed off, not shut down. More fantastically correct reporting no doubt.

Only a mental health assessment, but that would have dealt with the Dunblane killer as well.

Oh dear lord. People ENJOY them. I know of many people who like to go clay-pigeon shooting etc as a hobby. What's next, you're going to ban cars? Do you know how many people are killed by cars, be it by accident or deliberately?

Ban guns and criminals will find new weapons - like knives.

Apparently so.
Still, how can it be detected that someone's going to snap 20 years after being awarded the licence?

Mark

Even if you had frequent psych evaluations it wouldn't cover every possible trigger.

Pun intened.

I don't entirely disagree, but there are plenty of things people enjoy which are restricted because they are considered an overall detriment to society.


Ban guns and only criminals will have guns. Which I believe is one of the clarion calls of the American NRA but nevertheless holds true in a sense. Banning things only keeps them out of the hands of people who give a damn about sticking to the law anyway.

I'm not in favour of an outright ban on all guns - as I say, I think it would be pretty pointless - but I think necessary restrictions are fine. For example in the case of clay pigeon shooting, I would prefer it if the weapons used were stored in a secure facility (i.e. a gun safe) at the site of the firing range, rather than the homes of the people whose hobby it is. Ditto for target shooting weaponry. Hunting weaponry should only be owned by people who have a role which includes hunting (i.e. gamekeepers and the like) - there's no great history of 'hunting for sport' in the UK so I don't see that as being an excuse to have such weaponry at home.

Whether there should be guns in the UK is not the issue - the issue is what justification was there for a taxi driver to have two firearms licences?

He's here all week.

This is generally true. There are precursors which can be determined but they don't give you definitive answer; they just say if someone could do something if the circumstances were right, which is no basis for anything really. Plus I have a feeling if reports were true, this bloke would have passed any basic evaluation fine up until the day before yesterday.

The key is not to control the people, it's to control the weapons. Limit where they can be used and held and hit the panic button immediately if those rules are broken. I have a feeling it's quite feasible these days to 'tag' weapons such that if they were taken from a particular place they could automatically alert the police of the fact and even broadcast their current location via the mobile phone network.

You operate from the base principle that you can only have a gun if there is a good reason for you to have one and that gun is restricted on how and where it can be used. You make it hard for people to do harm if they go nuts, rather than trying to predict who will, which is only vaguely accurate at best.

Of course licensed guns in the hands of licensed and trained police officers have killed an innocent person before. Those officers would have passed psych evaluations the day before, but in the heat of the moment and with bad intelligence they killed De Menzies on the tube.

And then tried to cover it up. Bastards.

I love clay pigeon shooting. I am even planning on getting my own trap and clays just for that purpose. My cousin is a gunsmith so can find me a nice shotgun.

I think that's irrelevant Matt. What's your point?

It is relevant. There is a limit to how much assessment can be done as to the person involved. We all react differently to situations.

Just out of minor interest, and on a different note - how exactly did he shoot himself with either a shotgun or a rifle?
Im assuming the shotgun wasnt sawn off as he wouldnt seem to be the robber type. Yet he managed to 'take his own life'. The only way I can see this happening is if he used his toes to fire the gun..