imported post
http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/Story/tabid/209/articleID/37140/Default.aspx
Weapons fuel surge in crime
Article from:
October 01, 2007 12:00am
IN just 48 hours on Sydney's streets three teenagers were stabbed with a screwdriver, an elderly woman was threatened with a gun and a man carjacked.[/b]
The weekend of violence has come as The Daily Telegraph can reveal more than 10 guns a week are falling into the hands of criminals.
Have you witnessed or been a victim of Sydney's wave of weapon-fuelled violence. Tell us in confidence in the story feedback form below.
In a frightening indication of how criminals are arming themselves, NSW is just 11 guns away from equalling the total number reported stolen last year - with three months still to go.
In one example of the state's gun crime, an 89-year-old woman was threatened with a firearm for just $500 during a home invasion at Burwood on Saturday afternoon.
Three masked men stole her handbag from her Albert Cres unit and she needed treatment by ambulance officers for shock.
A man used a gun to rob a Liverpool motel on Friday night and a handgun was used in a carjacking in broad daylight in the city on Saturday morning.
The frightening rise in gun thefts has been fuelled largely by break-ins of homes but also robbers stealing the sidearms of security guards in a string of cash-in-transit-van heists.
But I thought we could trust the LEOs, government, and security people. They are all better than us so they deserve guns, right?
But it is not just guns the criminals are turning to, with one of the teenage victims of a frenzied attack in the centre of Sydney revealing the details behind his brush with death yesterday.
A screwdriver narrowly missed Gratian Taito-Tusa's heart with a gang of teenagers of Asian descent also stabbing two of his friends at World Square in Liverpool St after a brawl broke out at about 11pm.
From his bed at St Vincent's Hospital, the Granville South High School Year 11 student revealed how he frantically tried to escape as he was stabbed four times in the stomach, near his heart and lung, and in the right arm.
A screwdriver, which appeared to have a modified knife handle, was left at the scene but police refused to confirm whether it was the weapon used in the attack.
Ban screwdrivers!! But then the legal screwdriver market will just flood the perfect screwdriver free societies with illegal screwdrivers.
"I got stabbed, there were some Asians. I was just walking back, my Mum wanted me to come home," the 17-year-old said. "I was trying to fight my way out of it. My friend got stabbed as well."
Police have security footage of about 25 teenagers involved in the "all-in brawl" and shopkeepers said gangs often frequented the enclosed arcade at night.
In the wake of the rise in gun thefts, anti-gun advocates say too little is being done to ensure the state's firearms are held securely.
The government can barely figure out how to paint straight lines onthe highways, much less regulate guns. Back off and let normal people be responsible for themselves!
National Coalition for Gun Control spokeswoman Samantha Lee said: "The legal gun market has a major leaking tap in the form of thefts, which is flooding the illegal market with firearms."
Oh, right. I forgot, of course it's the United States' fault.
The NSW Police Force's acting head of its Firearms Squad Detective Superintendent Tim Stirling counters that police have recovered 189 of the 395 firearms stolen up to Friday - close to half.
As of Friday they had also taken 1668 illegal firearms off the street this year, although this was compared to 3881 seizures last year.
"I'm always concerned when firearms are stolen but it does fluctuate . . . We've got the toughest gun laws in Australia,a" Supt Stirling said.
Yeah, that's keeping everybody safe, isn't it?
Sydney University gun control researcher Professor Philip Alpers said: "Firearms are the most desirable objects in the criminal world and they (criminals) will go to great lengths to get them."
Firearms theft facts and figures:
Six months to June, 2007:
Rifles: 136
Shotguns: 47
Handguns: 36
Total number of firearms reported stolen as of Friday: 395
12 months to December, 2006:
Rifles: 232
Shotguns: 81
Handguns: 42
Total number of firearms reported stolen: 406
http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/Story/tabid/209/articleID/37140/Default.aspx
Weapons fuel surge in crime
Article from:
- Font size: Decrease Increase
- Email article: Email
- Print article: Print
- Submit comment: Submit comment
October 01, 2007 12:00am
IN just 48 hours on Sydney's streets three teenagers were stabbed with a screwdriver, an elderly woman was threatened with a gun and a man carjacked.[/b]
The weekend of violence has come as The Daily Telegraph can reveal more than 10 guns a week are falling into the hands of criminals.
Have you witnessed or been a victim of Sydney's wave of weapon-fuelled violence. Tell us in confidence in the story feedback form below.
In a frightening indication of how criminals are arming themselves, NSW is just 11 guns away from equalling the total number reported stolen last year - with three months still to go.
In one example of the state's gun crime, an 89-year-old woman was threatened with a firearm for just $500 during a home invasion at Burwood on Saturday afternoon.
Three masked men stole her handbag from her Albert Cres unit and she needed treatment by ambulance officers for shock.
A man used a gun to rob a Liverpool motel on Friday night and a handgun was used in a carjacking in broad daylight in the city on Saturday morning.
The frightening rise in gun thefts has been fuelled largely by break-ins of homes but also robbers stealing the sidearms of security guards in a string of cash-in-transit-van heists.
But I thought we could trust the LEOs, government, and security people. They are all better than us so they deserve guns, right?
But it is not just guns the criminals are turning to, with one of the teenage victims of a frenzied attack in the centre of Sydney revealing the details behind his brush with death yesterday.
A screwdriver narrowly missed Gratian Taito-Tusa's heart with a gang of teenagers of Asian descent also stabbing two of his friends at World Square in Liverpool St after a brawl broke out at about 11pm.
From his bed at St Vincent's Hospital, the Granville South High School Year 11 student revealed how he frantically tried to escape as he was stabbed four times in the stomach, near his heart and lung, and in the right arm.
A screwdriver, which appeared to have a modified knife handle, was left at the scene but police refused to confirm whether it was the weapon used in the attack.
Ban screwdrivers!! But then the legal screwdriver market will just flood the perfect screwdriver free societies with illegal screwdrivers.
"I got stabbed, there were some Asians. I was just walking back, my Mum wanted me to come home," the 17-year-old said. "I was trying to fight my way out of it. My friend got stabbed as well."
Police have security footage of about 25 teenagers involved in the "all-in brawl" and shopkeepers said gangs often frequented the enclosed arcade at night.
In the wake of the rise in gun thefts, anti-gun advocates say too little is being done to ensure the state's firearms are held securely.
The government can barely figure out how to paint straight lines onthe highways, much less regulate guns. Back off and let normal people be responsible for themselves!
National Coalition for Gun Control spokeswoman Samantha Lee said: "The legal gun market has a major leaking tap in the form of thefts, which is flooding the illegal market with firearms."
Oh, right. I forgot, of course it's the United States' fault.
The NSW Police Force's acting head of its Firearms Squad Detective Superintendent Tim Stirling counters that police have recovered 189 of the 395 firearms stolen up to Friday - close to half.
As of Friday they had also taken 1668 illegal firearms off the street this year, although this was compared to 3881 seizures last year.
"I'm always concerned when firearms are stolen but it does fluctuate . . . We've got the toughest gun laws in Australia,a" Supt Stirling said.
Yeah, that's keeping everybody safe, isn't it?
Sydney University gun control researcher Professor Philip Alpers said: "Firearms are the most desirable objects in the criminal world and they (criminals) will go to great lengths to get them."
Firearms theft facts and figures:
Six months to June, 2007:
Rifles: 136
Shotguns: 47
Handguns: 36
Total number of firearms reported stolen as of Friday: 395
12 months to December, 2006:
Rifles: 232
Shotguns: 81
Handguns: 42
Total number of firearms reported stolen: 406
Also , imp is right, and if you want to see a BAD outlaw ( lots of legally held guns!),you need look no further than my own TrueBrit younger brother! He is as old fashioned as I am, has twice as many guns as I do, and sleeps safe and sound at night! He ropes his own horses, and takes care of problems himself! He is not alone in this respect, for, be assured that there are stillplenty of the right calibre of guys in UK, strange as it may seem!