THEY ARE NOT GUNMEN

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 5 January 1935, Page 6

THEY ARE NOT GUNMEN

Gangsters in England Use Their Fists POLICE USUALLY UNARMED OTHER DRASTIC MEASURES In several countries the crooks automatic seems now to be as dangerous and large almost as a machinegun, while the political terrorist takes with him on his errands of death not only a pair of automatic pistols of the latest design and make, but hand grenades and bombs. There seems, indeed, to be no limit to the amount of firearms which the criminal abroad (notably in parts of America) may use in his exploits, or to the size or general effectiveness of his weapons. Nor is the menace of the gunman entirely unknown in Britain. A lessened value was placed on human life there in the immediate post-war years, but, although there was murder by shooting and people shot themselves, the crook did not at this point adopt the gun as a means of furthering his ends. There were any amount of old service revolvers, but it is not much more than two years since the criminal who carried a firearm and was even prepared to use it should the need arise made his presence felt to any extent in Britain, although lie fore then the country had been shocked by the shooting of P C. Gutteridge, for which callous crime Biowne and Kennedy were hanged. Then, two or three years back, there began to be sufficient “hold-ups” by gunmen to cause considerable apprehension. A dangerous gang of four who wounded a police constable at Kingston who was trying to arrest them were tracked down and captured in Bloomsbury by detectives who, like themselves, were armed. There were, too, several instances of branch post offices, postmistresses and bank officials, station booking-clerks and traders being held up, often by men who had dummy or imitation weapons but who succeeded, nevertheless, in scaring their victims. The authorities decided that a stop must be put at once to these methods, and action of two or three distinct kinds was taken.

A SPECIAL COMMITTEE,

To take the first one of the later measures put in hand in this war on the most ruthless type of criminal, the Home Secretary appointed at the beginning of tilts year a powerful committee under the chairmanship of Sir Archibald Bodkin, Director of Public Prosecutions from 1920 to 1930, to go fully into the question of firearms. The report of this committee is eagerly awaited by the police and others concerned with the problem. The committee xat for several months, hearing evidence from all kinds of experts on “the various types of firearms and similar weapons capable of being used for the discharge of missiles or noxious substances or ammunition therefor,” and in its report it will say whether, in the interests of public safety, “any amendment of the law is necessary or desirable in the respect of the definition or classification” of firearms or ammunition. Other steps to stamp out the gunman once and for all were taken. The Government acted quickly once the threat of armed robbery was a reality, and last year Parliament passed the Firearms and Imitation Firearms (Criminal Use) Bill., which provided for penal servitude up to 14 years for any person convicted of using either genuine or imitation firearms to avoid arrest or to prevent another’s arrest; and for penal servitude up to .seven years for any person with a firearm or imitation firearm in his possession when arrested unless he could show that he had it for lawful object. It was stated on behalf of the Government at the time that the question of the gunman was a novel one in Great Britain, but that the combination of the revolver and the motor ear had proved such a serious menace to the community that it had to be checked efficiently and promptly. At the same time the police issued an appeal to the public to hand over revolvers and guns which were in their possession and in respect of which they had no firearms certificate, and [explained that those who did so would not be prosecuted. The possession of firearms is unlawful for the ordinary members of the public without a firearms certificate. The result of the appeal was amazing. Thousands of firearms—Army colt .revolvers, sporting guns, shot guns, antique weapons—poured in to the police. THE ENGLISH WAY. An experienced police officer told a representative of The Observer that the average' crook in Britain does not rely on firearms. If lie or his gang comes up against the police the. old English method of a “rough hou.se” is preferred, hitting with fists against fists. Ordinarily, ho said, the police go about unarmed, but if detectives are after desperate men who are known to be armed they will, of course, carry weapons. For that reason detectives undergo shooting practice from time to time. “Of course,” it was. stated, “crime in Britain is not entirely without violence, biit knuckle-duster.s, life-pre-servers, lengths of lead piping, and iron bars are resorted to and not guns.” Lord Trenchard was among the police chiefs who invited people to hand over firearms for which they did not hold certificates. Many dangerous automatic pistols were received in response, but included also in the collection which reached the police were old-fashioned blunderbusses, ornamental Victorian pistols with a barrel a foot long and a handle another foot long, antique guns which for years had rested in peace over fireplaces—a. collection, in short, which was “worth far more from a curio point of view than as old metal ” For some days lorry loads of these extraordinary weapons left Scotland Yard for a breaking-up depot. It should be made clear, however, that quite a lot of really dangerous pistols and revolvers were at the same time handed over. Even defenceless old ladies gave up

their firearms, among them widows of Army officers, who had retained their husbands’ revolvers. The number of lonely women who, in fact, handed over weapons was quite surprising, but they did not need them. The use of guns in Britain is practically nonexistent. The danger arising from mere handiness of revolvers and so on is much greater than anything the owner of one is ever likely to be called upou to face.