British Prime Minister Tony Blair today backed tougher laws aimed at cracking down on gun crime after a spate of teenage murders in the capital that has sparked much soul-searching about the state of British society.
The fatal shootings of three youths this month in south London have generated a rapid political response and yesterday a man in his mid-20s was shot dead in the capital in what is also regarded a crime linked to drugs gangs.
Mr Blair said while gun crime in Britain, and London specifically, had fallen over the past year, tougher sentences for young people found carrying guns would help police clamp down on gangs.
"Is it a general state of British society, British young people? I think it isn't. It is about a specific problem, within a specific criminal culture to do with guns and gangs," Mr Blair told BBC television.
Fatal shootings have been falling in Britain. According to Home Office data, 97 people were killed by shooting in 2001/02, 68 in 2003/05, 75 in 2004/05 and 50 in 2005/06, the lowest total for seven years.
Overall gun-related crime fell 6 per cent last year but the issue has hit the headlines primarily because the three killed in London this month were all under 17.
Billy Cox (15) was shot dead at his home in Clapham last week. It murder followed the shooting of schoolboy Michael Dosunmu (15) in his bedroom in nearby Peckham on February 6th.
Three days earlier, James Smartt-Ford (16) was gunned down at Streatham ice rink, also in south London.
"There is a particular problem which is that the minimum 5-year sentence that we have introduced for illegal possession of a firearm does not apply to those under the age of 21 and we've got to lower that age ... down to the age of 17," Mr Blair said.
Gang membership should be also taken into account when offenders are sentenced and those prepared to give evidence against gangs should be given proper protection, Mr Blair added.
PA