Go after the gunrunners | Gus John | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Go after the gunrunners | Gus John | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk: "Operation Trident, the Metropolitan Police's unit for tackling street violence and gun and knife enabled crime within the African/Caribbean community, reports frequently on the levels and types of gun and knife activity within that community. One hears much less from the Met about the number of suppliers of illegal guns whom they arrest and prosecute.
Even if, as a result of Cumbria, the government were to make it virtually impossible for farmers and other rural folk to own guns, it would have no impact whatsoever on our efforts to tackle gun crime in urban areas. We would succeed in widening the divide between the two societies, but we would fail in keeping more of our young people alive. And we would only lend credence to those who suggest that the gang members who make guns their weapon of choice are simply congenitally prone to commit violent crime.
Grief has no bias: the sudden, violent death of a friend or relative is deeply traumatic to families and communities whoever they are and wherever they live. To me, the question of whether or not more measures are introduced to regulate the ownership of guns in rural areas is a distraction. It is the failure to deal with the illegal supply of guns that the government should focus upon."