"...we now have a gun crime situation that is rapidly approaching American proportions."

That really is pushing it a little, Don.

The official Home Office statistics give the overall level of gun crime in this country as less than half of 1 percent of all crime recorded by the police – and in the year ending 31 March 2004, there was a 15 per cent reduction in homicides involving firearms, and a 13 per cent reduction in robberies involving firearms.

If we get the impression from the media that the reverse is the case, that's largely because shootings make good news stories. But if we stop a little and think it shouldn't take long to realise that the level of media attention given to horrible shootings, like the one for which four young men have recently been jailed for life, reflects the fact that these things are still pretty uncommon.