PM launches fight against gun crime

24 September 2007

The Prime Minister launched an offensive against gun crime, with increased support for the police and increasing sentences for those caught with illegal weapons.

Speaking to the Labour Party conference today, Gordon Brown said that "no parent should ever have to endure the suffering of the family of Rhys Jones, the young boy callously murdered in Liverpool on Wednesday, August 22nd".

Mr Brown said that, at a time when two thirds of deaths from gun crime occur in four cities, the government and police would look to tackle the issue by punishment and prevention.

Illegal ownership of a handgun, for example, would be punishable by five year jail sentence, backed with education programmes in schools to warn of the dangers of guns and knives, with teachers encouraged to use new powers to confiscate weapons.

Mr Brown also talked of drug-related crime, adding: "I want the tough new powers that have already closed over one thousand crack houses in some areas of the country to be used in all areas of the country."

The PM also talked increased support for the police, saying that with 139,000 police and 16,000 community support officers, there are now more officers than ever before and said that by April 7th 2008, every community will have a neighbourhood police team.

Those officers, he said, would also be provided with hand-held computers to cut paperwork so that officers could log crimes on the spot. One thousand would be provided straight away, with 10,000 provided across the country next year.

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