Violent Crime Reduction Bill
In yesterday’s Commons debate on the Government’s new Violent Crime Reduction Bill, Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime, welcomed the proposed Bill but warned that the defeating the menace of gun crime in inner cities will require identifying the underlying causes of crime and will include better education, employment opportunities and witness protection.
Diane Abbott said: “Gun crime casts a peculiar shadow over communities such as mine in Hackney. In the past decade I have witnessed the growth of a specific gun culture, in which young men do not feel properly dressed for a night out unless they are tooled up.”
She added: “The random nature of gun crime in the city and its international nature give Hackney's gun culture a specific character. In my constituency there have been drive-by shootings in which people were killed while waiting at a bus stop. At a party, people have been killed by a bullet from a gun fired in another room that passed through the wall. In the past two weeks, people were shot up in a Turkish restaurant in Dalston by people travelling past on a motorbike.”
She explained: “Disputes about drugs and payment may originate in Mountain View, Kingston in Jamaica, but they are resolved on the streets of Dalston in Hackney. Just as business and labour have gone global, so has crime.”
Ms Abbott warned: “If we are serious about beating gun culture in the Hackneys and Harlesdens of our country we must look at educational underachievement and the need to create routes into employment. We must also look closely at witness protection.”
Ms Abbott, Chair of the All Party group on Gun Crime concluded: “For many years, I have urged Ministers to take tough action on imitation firearms. In Hackney, such firearms are not ornaments like vases or a piece of china. They are one step away from real firearms. Gun crime is a tragedy not just for the people who are shot but for their family and the community. I welcome the Government's action, including tougher sentences for people carrying imitation firearms. The Bill's clear intention to bear down on the carrying, sale and use of imitation fire arms is welcome.”
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