They Have Gun Controls in England

The attempted assassination of George Wallace has put the issue of “gun control” back on page one—coincidentally, at a time when capital punishment is widely believed to be on the way out. The experience of Britain, which has no capital punishment and lots of gun control, is instructive in this double context. In 1957, when the British revised their traditional, and very stern, homicide laws, the murderer who killed with a gun was still liable to be hanged; but the murderer who used less direct methods was more likely than before to be guilty of “non-capital” murder (meaning there’d be no death penalty for him) or he might even be let off with a short prison term for manslaughter. So what happened? The number of murders with guns declined, but there was a marked increase in the number of killings by beating, kicking and other means.

Obviously, it is not necessary to have a gun to commit murder. But political crackpots, as well as common criminals, find that guns are handier and more efficient than other weapons. Indeed, the possession of a firearm can be so valuable to a criminal that he will go to great lengths to obtain one. How, then, is the robber or would-be killer “deterred” from getting his hands on such a weapon, and from using it?

MH

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M. F. Harvey

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The attempted assassination of George Wallace has put the issue of “gun control” back on page one—coincidentally, at a time when capital punishment is widely believed to be on the way out. The experience of Britain, which has no capital punishment and lots of gun control, is instructive in this double context. In 1957, when the British revised their traditional, and very stern, homicide laws, the murderer who killed with a gun was still liable to be hanged; but the murderer who used less direct methods was more likely than before to be guilty of “non-capital” murder (meaning there’d be no death penalty for him) or he might even be let off with a short prison term for manslaughter. So what happened? The number of murders with guns declined, but there was a marked increase in the number of killings by beating, kicking and other means.

Obviously, it is not necessary to have a gun to commit murder. But political crackpots, as well as common criminals, find that guns are handier and more efficient than other weapons. Indeed, the possession of a firearm can be so valuable to a criminal that he will go to great lengths to obtain one. How, then, is the robber or would-be killer “deterred” from getting his hands on such a weapon, and from using it?