POLICE-UK-L Archives

Archiver > POLICE-UK > 2000-08 > 0965588310


From: "Janet McCrosky" <>
Subject: Re: [POLICE-UK] Do any UK criminals ever use guns? Plus - why I subscribed
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2000 14:58:30 -0400


Yes - this helps to clarify things - also makes me feel better about what
I've been writing to date. The short
story collection is following a German colonel P.O.W. released into London
by way of a solicitor friend who gets him out of the prison camp by hiring
him into his law firm. From that point I guess the idea is to
show his adjusting to freedom, his new job (he had been career military in
German army), his going to law
school, etc., etc. - and also working undercover for British Intelligence,
the only exciting time in his life until he gets a law degree and becomes
full partner in the firm. So not being able to carry and use a gun would
end all of his extracurricular activities.
I have him getting out of prison camp right at the end of World War
II.(Please - don't anyone tell me there
was no prison camp in the London area !!!! Even if there wasn't !! Someone
told me the Queen Victoria Pub
in "EastEnders" is fictional. And I am writing fiction - just didn't want
it too farfetched.)
Thank you to all those who helped with this question.
Janet

----- Original Message -----
From: billwood <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, August 06, 2000 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: [POLICE-UK] Do any UK criminals ever use guns? Plus - why I
subscribed


> Hello Janet
>
> UK criminals do use firearms and have done so on many occasions over
> the centuries.
>
> Dunblane massacre of children in Scotland
> Massacre in a small market town of hungerford in the south of England
> Shotgun murder in Brighton in 1970's
> Killing of 3 polieman in 1966 at Shepherds bush
> Killing of Sidney West by Craig & Bentley
>
> These are just a few of the more notorious ones which come to mind as
> I type. It excludes terrorist acts by the IRA and during the siege of
> Sydney Street before WW1. Knives and fists are also used as they are
> in probably all other societies. Though fists are far more common.
>
> Why someone said we are unable to own guns is beyond me. I have a
> shotgun (safely locked away) within feet of where I am now. Firearms
> are regulated by Chief Officers of police - Chief Constables mainly,
> though there are two commissioners of Police, one for the Metropolitan
> Police and one for the smaller City of London Police.
>
> British Intelligence weapons would not be authorised by Chief officers
> of police but they would account for them internally as the armed
> forces do.
>
> It depend which period you are writing in. After the First World War
> it was not uncommon for many returning soldiers to have 'souvenirs'.
> The Second World War produced a similar influx as did Yugoslavia etc.
> You can probably detect a pattern with illegal importations. There
> have been several amnesties where members of the public could hand in
> weapons without being asked questions. However, the argument against
> imposing tight restrictions on legally held firearms is that the ones
> used in crime are normally not legally held/licensed.
>
> Generally you will see a tightening of gun control after there has
> been a problem.
>
> Does this help?
>
> Best wishes
>
> Bill
>
> > Do any UK criminals ever use firearms? Or just knives, fists,
> etc.?
> > I was alerted to this new list through the Rootsweb.com
> newsletter which arrives via email every week. As
> > someone writing fiction about something about which I know
> practically nothing, I had joined the English trivia list and had a
> great many questions (difference in duties between
> solicitors/barristers) answered that way. Someone on that list also
> indicated that people in England aren't permitted to own guns. Since
> one of my principal characters not only owned one but used it
> successfully several times in both England and France (while working
> undercover for British Intelligence), I was quite alarmed to think he
> had been freely owning and using one through several chapters. Worse -
> he had been clerk for a London solicitor - and he'd turned one of his
> guns over to him and had been teaching him how to use it (reason:
> their law firm was burglarized).
> > Hence my attempt to pinpoint exactly when it became illegal for
> people in England especially not to own
> > firearms.
> > I grew up enjoying "Secret Agent" and "The Prisoner" (primarily
> because of Patrick McGoohan, my favorite actor, whether in those or in
> ":Braveheart") - but I also have several cousins who have served here
> in Ohio as policemen and one as a deputy sheriff who even ran for
> sheriff in a past election (he didn't make it). I also currently watch
> "Law and Order," "NYPD Blue," used to see "Homicide: Life on the
> Street" and have
> > seen a little of English law and order in parts of episodes in which
> one family recently was sent into a witness
> > protection plan in "EastEnders." My reading matter for a lifetime
> has been mysteries - Agatha Christie to
> > John Grisham. I think the problem is that I'm probably not
> remembering the details of police work overseas from
> > any of them. I faithfully watch "Mystery," too, on PBS.British
> P.I.'s apparently don't carry firearms.
> > Janet
> >
> >
> > ==============================
> > Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again.
> > http://pml.rootsweb.com/
> > Brought to you by RootsWeb.com.
> >
>
>
>
> ==============================
> Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again.
> http://pml.rootsweb.com/
> Brought to you by RootsWeb.com.
>
>

This thread: