In the wake of the appalling events in Cumbria and the mass killing of twelve people by Derrick Bird, there have been the inevitable calls from anti-gun campaigners for more stringent gun-control legislation.
The UK already has some of the toughest anti-firearm legislation in the world. The laws on hand-guns were tightened even further following the Dunblane Massacre in 1996.
For once, however, I actually found myself in agreement with David Cameron.
The Prime Minister told a news conference: 'You can't legislate to stop a switch flicking in someone's head and this sort of action taking place'.
And the consensus amongst the psychology experts asked to comment on the killings in Cumbria seems to be just that: it is impossible to predict exactly whether, when or where someone will snap in the way that clearly, Mr Bird appears to have done.
Most licensed gun-owners behave responsibly with their weapons, and all have to go through the most vigorous checks to assess their suitability for possessing a gun.
Any change to the law on firearm-use or ownership is certainly a long way off.
No comments:
Post a Comment