Ban guns and…

…the criminals will have knives.

Harry Potter actor stabbed to death protecting his younger brother

Robert Knox, 18, who acted alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, became the 28th teenager killed in Britain this year, and the 10th in London to die from stab wounds.

Relatives said his role as Marcus Belby in the film, due for release in November, was set to launch his career as an actor.

Mr Knox was a member of the same rugby club as Jimmy Mizen, the 16-year-old “gentle giant” fatally stabbed in nearby Lee, south-east London, two weeks ago. [snip]

The murder will reignite a debate about youth crime, knives, and whether the criminal justice system is working. Figures obtained by The Telegraph show that out of more than 60,000 people prosecuted for possessing knives since 1997, only nine have been given the maximum jail term.

The Home Office and Boris Johnson, the new Mayor of London, have introduced measures including police stop-and-search and knife scanners at schools, pubs and clubs, in an attempt to curb their use. Yet the Children’s Commissioner for England claimed yesterday that such measures could fuel resentment. [snip]

Why not ban clothes? That makes it impossible to conceal a weapon.

The man began attacking drinkers outside the Metro bar, next to Sidcup railway station, south-east London. Witnesses said that the attacker had earlier been thrown out by bouncers, but returned in the early hours with several friends. [snip]

A number of drinkers were hurt, including Dean Saunders, 21, Nick Jones, 19, Mr Grimley, 17, and 16-year-old Andrew Dormer. Russell Wood, 21, said that he saw Mr Saunders stabbed in the neck three times. [snip]

Seems that alcohol was very involved. BTW, what’s a 16-year-old doing out tipping the cup?

The maximum sentence for carrying a knife in a public place is two years in jail, rising to four years if the offence was committed in a school. In 1997, 4,466 people were convicted of “having an article with a blade or point in a public place”, a figure that rose to 7,654 by 2006. There were 60,366 prosecutions over the 10-year period, of which 47,338 resulted in a conviction.

Over the same period, 495 people were prosecuted for having a knife in a school. Of these, 479 were found guilty, yet only nine people were given the maximum possible sentence, Mr Straw admitted. James Brokenshire, the shadow home affairs minister, called the findings “disturbing”.
Knife crime facts:

• 14 teenagers have been stabbed to death in Britain this year
• A third of murders are committed with knives
• Four per cent of young people aged 10 to 25 admitted in a Home Office survey to having carried a knife in the previous 12 months
• 550 metal-detecting wands and 244 metal-scanning arches have been deployed by the Metropolitan Police across inner London boroughs as part of its stop-and-search operation
• 934 knives, guns and other lethal weapons were seized from children in schools between 2005 and 2007
• One in three young people living in inner cities thinks it is acceptable to carry a knife in self-defence, a survey found

It seems that the Brits simply haven’t banned enough items. Besides, isn’t Merrie Old a gun-free environment??? What’s with finding gun carrying school children?