Airgun / firearms “accident” statistics – where are they?

[Beer Hunter]

Guys,

I’ve been talking to my MP about the Violent Crime Reduction Bill and surprisingly for a Lib Dem, he is very supportive.
However, the home office has written back a couple of times spouting misquoted statistics. Where can I get hold of the official airgun / firearms “accident” statistics?

Cheers,
Kevin.

[dazzpol]

Hi Kev

On a similar theme, I did a wee bit of research on our systems at work to find out how many time airgun crime was recorded.

The answer not many. If the use of bb guns by kids in the street was recorded correctly, then even less.

Dazz

[Mnementh]

Strangely enough, try the Gun Control Network website, here;

http://www.gun-control-network.org/GCN02.htm

Go down the menu on the left and note crime figures

Sandy

[16 Grain]

Would be nice if they included a column for frying pans and kitchen knives just for comparison. The 'causing death by dangerous' driving figures might be useful too.

I'd also be extremely interested to see how these 'crimes' are geographically distributed.

[dazzpol]

I'd also be extremely interested to see how these 'crimes' are geographically distributed.

Only guessing, but every other 'airgun disaster' column seems to be in Scotland

Dazz

[termin8R]

You might ask at the BASC website, particularly if you're a member. If you are doing comparisons (as I intend to), I noted very recently that there are 3,500 a year killed on our roads. This year there have been 52 killed (+ 4 bombers) and hundreds wounded by rucksacks. No laughing matter, but a valid statistic nonetheless.

Doug

[Belker]

I rather like this paragraph from the GCN:

"The latest gun crime figures from Scotland show a total of 970 offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been used in 2003, a reduction of over 9% from 2002. A large proportion of the offences (43 percent) involved air weapons, and 37 percent were committed with unidentified weapons (the latter figure has increased significantly in recent years since Strathclyde (after 2001) and Lothian and Borders (after 2002) stopped making assumptions about what type of weapon was used even if it had not been identified - it was usually assumed that this was an air weapon for statistical returns and this is still likely to be the case). Handguns were involved in 29 offences, the lowest number since 1990. No handgun was used in any offence which caused injury or death."

My italics

[Mnementh]

Hi Dazzpol,
you're correct. The Press, for want of a better word that would get me banned from the BBs, drool every time an airgun gets fired up here,

The old rule works, i.e. the facts don't get in the way of a good story.

Belker, sadly, the simple FACT that gun crime is going down, doesn't seem to make news up here. Good news, ain't news at all.

Sad but true..

Sandy

[u.k.neil]

Not that many years ago, gun crime statiscics were being bolstered by the Police by including any crime where the word 'gun' was included, such as staple gun, nail gun, hot glue gun, mastic gun etc....etc etc..... I am sure there a lot more that I cannot think of this early on a Sunday morning and getting over a bout of Bronchitis.

If they have now been excluded (because they were found out) then gun crime has actually risen at a far greater rate than the statistics indicate.

Neil

[Beer Hunter]

Only guessing, but every other 'airgun disaster' column seems to be in Scotland

Dazz

So you would think, but airgun offences in Scotland have more than halved in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, in the same time, those in England and Wales have nearly doubled!
The raw figures - http://www.a2kda.com/ago.htm

[16 Grain]

From the looks of the figures I'd say that there are likely to be some serious issues with the way these things are reported and recorded.

[Mnementh]

Hi 16 grain,
I agree, completely.

I believe that the last 2 years increases are totally down to the cretins of the press sensationalizing airgun misuse and the plonkers out there think it's "cool".

Unfortunately, as usual, we all get tarred with the same brush.

Sandy

[Keef]

So you would think, but airgun offences in Scotland have more than halved in the last 10 years. Unfortunately, in the same time, those in England and Wales have nearly doubled!
The raw figures - http://www.a2kda.com/ago.htm

The recorded offences for England and Wales are distorted. The financial start level for criminal damage recording was lowered to £10.00 and this then brought into the criminal damage records instances of broken windows etc that were previosly ignored. Other criteria for recording has also been changed.

I am not saying that the window breakages should be ignored, merely that the goal posts were, yet again, moved to massage the statistics.

The way statistics are recorded has been changed in virtually every area that shows up the governments performance so any comparision between the years becomes impossible unless you have an intimate knowledge of the way they have been recorded in previous years and can weight the results accordingly.

As the saying goes, there are statistics, statistics and damned lies.