Erfahrungen mit dem Waffengesetz in Grossbritannien

Erfahrungen mit dem Waffengesetz in Grossbritannien

Es dürfte nicht allen bekannt sein, dass Grossbritannien eines der schärfsten Waffengesetze der Welt (vgl. “UK’s gun laws are among the toughest in the world“) hat. Umso mehr interessieren die Erfahrungen, welche die Engländer mit dem Gesetz gemacht haben. Die Daten dazu liefert ein entsprechender Artikel bei Wikipedia.
Zunächst zur Ausgangslage:

Following the Dunblane massacre, the government passed the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 which means that as of 1997 handguns have been almost completely banned for private ownership, although the official inquiry, known as the Cullen Inquiry, did not go so far as to recommend such action. Exceptions to the ban include muzzle-loading “blackpowder” guns, pistols produced before 1917, pistols of historical interest (such as pistols used in notable crimes, rare prototypes, unusual serial numbers and so on), starting pistols, pistols that are of particular aesthetic interest (such as engraved or jewelled guns) and shot pistols for pest control. Under certain circumstances, individuals may be issued a PPW (Personal Protection Weapon) licence. Even the UK’s Olympic shooters fall under this ban; shooters can only train in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or abroad (namely Switzerland).

The independent schreibt dazu:

Britain is one of the most regulated countries in the world when it comes to owning guns. Shotguns, rifles and handguns are each treated differently under the law, with shotguns the easiest to obtain and handguns, after Thomas Hamilton’s massacre in Dunblane, the most difficult.

Doch wie sieht es mit den Erfahrungen seit 1997 aus? (Alle Zitate aus Wikipedia, Stand 18.01.2011)

A Home Office study published in 2007 reported that gun crime in England & Wales remains a relatively rare event. Firearms (including air guns) were used in 21,521 recorded crimes. It said that injury caused during a firearm offence was rare with less than 3% resulting in a serious or fatal injury.
The number of homicides per year committed with firearms has remained between a range of 49 and 97 in the 8 years to 2006. There were 2 fatal shootings of police officers in England and Wales in this period and 107 non-fatal shootings – an average of 9.7 per year over the same period.
[…]
Compared with the United States of America, the United Kingdom has a slightly higher total crime rate per capita of approximately 85 per 1000 people, while in the USA it is approximately 80. […]

Since 1998, the number of people injured by firearms in England and Wales increased by 110%, from 2,378 in 1998/99 to 5,001 in 2005/06. […]
In 2007, the British government was accused by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis of making “inaccurate and misleading” statements claiming that gun crime was falling, after official figures showed that gun-related killings and injuries recorded by police had risen more than fourfold since 1998, mainly due to a rise in non-fatal injuries. Justice Minister Mr Jack Straw told the BBC, “We are concerned that within the overall record, which is a good one, of crime going down in the last 10-11 years, the number of gun-related incidents has gone up. But it has now started to fall.”

Alles in allem ein nicht besonders positives Ergebnis… Den Versprechungen der Initianten ist kein Glaube zu schenken! Am besten setzt man diese Erkenntnis mit einem “NEIN” um.

 Abstimmung International Waffenverbotsinitiative