Thoughts on Violent Crime

I just read this horrendous story, and it got me thinking about the problems of knife and gun crime. I just want to tear my hair out in frustration every time I hear one of these political pillocks on the radio pontificating about something that they really haven’t given much thought to. They usually end up calling for a ban on this, a ban on that or a ban on the other; they also usually end up demonising the “young thugs” who, they think, are responsible for the majority of gun and knife crime. Have they never asked the question “why do we have a problem with gun and knife crime in young people?” well, obviously they haven’t, because if they had then they would not make the asinine comments that are so frequently heard from them.

The answers are not simple ones, but they are common sense ones; a) there is the matter of education, or the lack of, both in schools and in the home, b) there is the matter of parental control, and if this is not exercised from a very early age then it is worthless. I actually think that the most important aspect is the parenting; if children grow up in violent households then they are more likely to be violent themselves, whereas if they are taught from birth to respect others then they will be more likely to do so. I know that this is a very simplistic argument, but these are simply off the top of the head thoughts. I also think that there is a problem with the way young people are policed, in as much as they seem to be targeted simply for being young and doing what young people do. In my opinion if we treat young people as potential criminals, then that is what they are going to become. They will end up thinking, well if that is what they think we are then that is what we will be.

Then there is the whole problem of the availability of knives and guns, they are too easy to get. I have heard all sorts of cries for banning this, that and the other, but we have been down this road already, with hand guns there was the knee jerk reaction after Dunblane, which led to the hand gun ban; and what was the net result, the fact that it is easier for kids to get their hands on a hand gun now than it was before. The whole problem is that it is now almost impossible to police hand guns as they have been driven underground, where there is absolutely no control over them at all; it is the criminals who are now making money out of, and controlling the supply of hand guns. Surely it would be much better if the control and supply of hand guns were in the hands of responsible people rather than criminals.

There are inherent problems with making anything illegal, whether it is hand guns, knives, drugs, boxing or whatever. Making something illegal will not make it go away, all it will succeed in doing is drive it underground and into the hands of the criminal elements who will seize upon the chance to make money out of it. Once something has been driven underground, for whatever reason, all control over it has been lost, it becomes virtually impossible to police. Surely it makes far more sense to legalise something so that at least there is some form of control that can be implemented and policed effectively.

There is no doubt that we have a societal problem, particularly in some inner city areas, but no amount of bans will make even the smallest difference, bans will just make the problem worse, experience tells us this. The societal problem we have has to be understood, we have to get to the cause before we can effect the solution. The cause of the problem is not the knife or the hand gun, the cause of the problem is the person wielding it. So, does it not make sense to understand why the person wielding the knife or the gun is doing so, would it not be much easier to effect a solution with this knowledge at our disposal, at the end of the day I think that the answer to both questions is a resounding YES!