Post by Totheleft on Nov 5, 2024 1:39:27 GMT
homicideThe Femicide Census records the deaths of 74 women at the hands of a man using a firearm in the UK since 2009 . They are named below.
A further three women were killed by men using crossbows. In 2021, the coroner, Professor Paul Marks, submitted a report to the Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Minister for Crime and Policing, Kit Malthouse. Professor Marks said he was concerned there is “no on-going control, record or licensing requirement for [crossbows]” unlike firearms and shotguns. Because of this, he said, “the police have no record of who owns crossbows, how they are stored [or] the number that are in circulation.” Marks called on the Government to review the 1987 Act and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, “with the intention of regulating the sale and possession of these lethal weapons.” (UK House of Commons, 2021: commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-is-crossbow-use-and-possession-regulated/). The Femicide Census supports this position and believes that ownership of a crossbow should be subject to greater regulation than is currently the case.
Of the 74 women, 42 (56.8 %) women were killed by a current or former partner. Five women (6.8 %) were killed by their son. Four (5.4 %) women were killed by other family members. Eight women (10.8 %) were killed by men that they knew in some other context. Fourteen (18.9 %) women were killed by men who were strangers. We were unable to find details of the relationship between one woman and the man who killed her. In 21 cases, there were additional victims who were shot dead Dependent children were killed in three of these cases.
In cases where other victims were killed/shot over half of the perpetrators also shot themselves dead. 38 perpetrators killed themselves at the time of the offence and one perp four days after (52% total). The rate or murder-suicide in men who use firearms to kill women is nine times higher than the rate we have calculated for men who commit femicide in the UK in general ( 8.6% based on data from 2009 – 2018). This suggests that the method of killing and the psychologies of men who choose to kill using guns combine to create qualitative differences compared to other femicides.
The 74 women were killed by 83 men. Our records indicate that of these men, 34 (41 %) had a known history of violence, of which 31 (37 %) had histories of violence against women specifically. Of the 31 men with histories of violence against women, our records indicate this was known to the police in 24 cases. In four cases these men had convictions for violence against women In addition, one man had been cautioned, one was subject to a restraining order and one was subject to bail conditions at the time he committed the femicide. In six cases no action had been taken against the perpetrator after the report/s which proceeded him killing a woman, in a further two cases charges had been dropped. We were unable to find details of what action was taken subsequent to reports to the police of violence against women in nine cases. Our data shows that men with known histories of violence against women are able to access firearms which they then use to kill.
The Femicide Census supports stronger regulation of firearms. Where a man has a known history of violence, including violence against women and/or intimate partner violence or abuse, he should never be permitted to own a firearm. If men have a licence to own a gun, this must be disclosed to partners seeking information under the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. The evidence that we have found shows that the existing ‘balance of probabilities test’ is not sufficient to save lives.
Where a man applies for a firearm licence and he has a known history of violence, consideration must also be given to this links with family members or others in his ‘firearms community.’ Cheryl Gabriel-Hooper was shot dead by her husband, a licensed firearms holder using an unlicensed gun. The murder took place 14 days after Ms Gabriel Hooper had contacted police to report concerns regarding her safety from her estranged husband. He had voluntarily surrendered his licensed weapons. This illustrates why the Femicide Census considers that the police should be granted a specific power of entry to be able to seize shotguns, firearms and ammunition where there is a risk to public safety or the peace and the certificate holder. (Question one). However, this example also illustrates that where a gun holder appears to cooperate with the police and agrees to voluntary surrender, it does not mean that the risk is gone/ or access to firearms is prevented.
There is a well-established body of research which shows that gun licensing laws affect femicide rates and in particular intimate partner femicides and mass killings, including increases in murder-suicides in countries including the USA and Switzerland (Nowak, 2012). Men are more likely than women to be bearers of guns, (Women’s International League for Freedom, n.d.). Women were found to be three times more likely to be murdered if there was a gun in their home (Langley, 2008) and research from the USA has also shown a correlation between women obtaining a gun for their own protection and risk of murder. Forty per cent of the variance in femicide rates in US states is explained by state, 2021-level firearm ownership rates alone (Siegel and Rothman, 2016).
Between 2009 and 2018, at least 54 percent of mass shootings in the USA, defined as shootings in which more than three people are killed in one event, were related to domestic or family violence, (Everytown For Gun Safety, 2021). Between 2006 and 2020, 92.5 per cent of all mass shooters in the USA were male, 89.9 per cent of mass shooters who killed family members were male, with 56.3 per cent of victims of mass family shootings and 47.1 per cent of all mass shootings being female (Fox and Levin, 2021). Meanwhile the confluence of guns, misogyny male entitlement and resentment of women’s emancipation can be seen in the 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada, when Marc Lepine killed 14 women, and injured 14 others before killing himself, claiming that he was ‘fighting feminism’ before opening fire. The incident prompted the tightening of gun control laws in Canada. So-called ‘incel’ (involuntary celibate) related murders such as that committed by Elliot Rodger, 22, in Isla Vista, California, in which he killed 6 people (3 shot and three stabbed) and injured 14 others as further examples of risks to women when men can access guns. On acquiring his first gun Rodgers wrote that he “felt a new sense of power. I was now armed. Who’s the alpha male now, bitches? I thought to myself, regarding all of the girls who’ve looked down on me in the past.” (Solnit 2015) and in his video diary said “I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up, blond slut I see inside there. All those girls I’ve desired so much. They have all rejected me and looked down on me as an inferior man,” (in Garvey, 2014.) Whilst we are aware that there are not currently proposals to reproduce the USA’s liberal approach to firearms ownership and licensing, it is worth acknowledging the serious impact of such lack of regulation on mass shootings and their relationship to femicide. This shows that where men are violent, abusive and/or controlling of their current or former partner, others are also at risk. For these reasons, the Femicide Census does not support any steps which would reduce the regulation of access to firearms in the UK.
UK women killed by men using firearms (2009 – present)
2010 Rebecca Thorpe
2010 Susan Huges
2010 Jennifer Jackson
2010 Jane Robinson
2010 Agnes Sina-Inakoju
2010 Aytul Serbetli
2009 Julie Harrison
2009 Mary Griffiths
2009 Jannette Jones
2009 Elaine Shaw
2009 Beverley Shears
2011 Jennifer (Jennie) Leeman
2011 Christine Chambers
2011 Judith Garnett
2012 Andrea Johnson
2012 Patricia Seddon
2012 Corrin Barker
2012 Susan McGoldrick
2012 Alison Turnbull
2012 Tanya Turnbull
2012 Jean Blakey
2012 Maureen Tyler
2012 Fiona Bone
2012 Nicola Hughes
2013 Sabrina Moss
2013 Margaret Knight
2013 Victoria Rose
2013 Hayley Pointon
2014 Christine Lee
2014 Lucy Lee
2014 Elizabeth (Anne) Knott
2014 Leeann Foley
2014 Wendy Ambrose
2014 Shereka Fab-Ann Marsh
2013 Caroline Parry
2015 Rita King
2015 Kerry Michelle Reeves
2015 Maureen Postlethwaite
2016 Allison Muncaster
2016 Claire Hart
2016 Charlotte Hart
2016 Helen Joanne (Jo) Cox
2016 Annie Besala Ekofo
2017 Pauline Cockburn
2018 Cheryl Gabriel-Cooper
2018 Michelle Savage
2018 Heather Whitbread
2011 Marion Millican
2010 Diane Harley
2011 Sophie Taylor
2012 Lauren O’Neill
2019 Christy Walshe
2019 Janette Dunbavand
2019 Marion Price (Little)
2019 Kathleen (Gwen) Gold
2019 Lyra McKee
2020 Debbie Zurick
2020 Gwendoline Bound
2020 Kelly Fitzgibbons
2020 Silke Hartshorne Jones
2020 Aya Hachem
2020 Margaret Johnson
2021 Carol Smith
2021 Catherine Wardleworth
2021 Maxine Davison
2021 Kate Shepherd
2021 Pauline Angell
2022 Wendy Morris
2022 Ashley Dale
2022 Jacqueline Rutter
2022 Elle Edwards
2023 Emma Pattison
2023 Hayley Burke
2023 Rose Jobson
In addition, the following women were shot by men using crossbows
2010 Suzanne Blamires
2010 Shelly Armitage
2018 Sana Muhammad
www.femicidecensus.org/news-and-opinions/our-response-to-the-governments-consultation-on-firearms-legislation
The brother of a businessman who shot dead his wife and daughter has joined calls for gun licence fees to increase to help prevent future killings.
Christopher Foster killed his family and then himself in 2008 in Shropshire with a gun he was licensed to use.
A five-year firearms licence costs £88, external and Andrew Foster said it should rise to meet the costs of issuing them and better fund police licensing units.
"These tragedies still keep happening, affecting families," he said.
"You won't stop them in their entirety but you will lower the percentage of these incidents if it was properly funded and properly managed.
"It shocks me it is still comparatively cheap at £88."
Andrew Foster
Image caption,
Mr Foster is still campaigning for changes to gun laws 15 years after the tragedy
Christopher Foster killed his wife Jill, daughter Kirstie and also their horses and dogs at Osbaston House, near Maesbrook. He set fire to their home before killing himself.
His brother, from Wolverhampton, said the horrific ordeal still affected his family 15 years on.
"Every time we see something on the TV, a tragedy, it sort of brings it all back and then we see the issues that keep arising that have not been resolved," he said.
Earlier this year, policing Minister Chris Philp announced a review of firearms licensing fees. A second consultation into firearms licensing ends on Wednesday, external.
It followed the mass shooting in Plymouth in which Jake Davison, 22, used a legally-held shotgun to kill his mother Maxine Davison, 51, and four others before shooting himself on 12 August 2021.
Emma Ambler, of Birmingham, whose sister Kelly Fitzgibbons and her two daughters were killed in March 2020 by her partner who then killed himself, is also campaigning for licences to cost more.
Kelly with her daughters
Image source,Emma Ambler
Image caption,
Kelly Fitzgibbons was killed at her home with Ava, four (right) and Lexi, two (left)
Both Staffordshire and West Midlands' police and crime commissioners (PCC) have called for the fees to change as they do not cover the full price of issuing them.
They lose money for every gun licence application due to the cost of vetting people and other bureaucracy, officials said.
In Staffordshire, the shortfall annually was about £300,000, the county's PCC Ben Adams said.
"It's a really important industry for Staffordshire, [licenced gun users] want a good service and in the main I think they are prepared to pay for it through their licence," he added.
Martin Parker
Image caption,
Martin Parker, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said he felt more firearms certificate holders would be "comfortable" with a fee increase
Firearms owners have experienced delays in getting licences granted or renewed, according to Martin Parker, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation.
Speaking at a game fair in Warwickshire, he said he expected fees to see a "substantial increase".
"I think most certificate holders would be reasonably comfortable with that, having not had an increase for 10 years, provided there was a level of service which supported it," he said.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said Britain has "some of the toughest gun laws in the world" and it was in the process of reviewing licensing fees ahead of a consultation "in due course".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-66582825
Gun crime survivors create scheme to stop violent partners owning firearms
This article is more than 6 months old
Some police forces in England and Wales now ask spouses to flag dangerous traits or mental health problems
Steven Morris
Tue 9 Apr 2024 14.08 BST
Share
Survivors of gun crime committed by violent and coercive partners have worked with police to create a groundbreaking scheme designed to stop more dangerous offenders being allowed licensed firearms.
The women have helped police frame a questionnaire that firearms officers will put to the partners of people wanting a licence, which it is hoped will flag up issues such as a propensity to violence or mental health problems.
Five English and Welsh forces have used the scheme, called Project Titanium, and licences have already been refused or revoked.
The scheme, launched by Gwent police in south Wales and so far trialled by the Met, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire forces, has been inspired and informed by the survivors Rhianon Bragg and Rachel Williams.
Bragg was stalked and held hostage at gunpoint for eight hours overnight by her former partner Gareth Wyn Jones after she ended their relationship. She had repeatedly told police in north Wales he was menacing her and her four children and his licensed firearms were seized but no further action was taken and his weapons were returned.
Rachel Williams suffered serious leg injuries when she was blasted with a shotgun by her former partner Darren Williams after he burst into the hair salon in south Wales where she worked. Like Bragg, she has become a vocal campaigner on gun control.
A criticism of the gun licensing system in England and Wales has been that the voices of partners have often not been heard, even though they may be best placed to highlight any dangers.
Under Project Titanium, partners are asked 30 questions, including: “Would your partner ever get professional help if they had any mental health issues?”, “Would your partner ever hurt an animal?”, “Has your partner ever threatened to use, or has used a weapon on you?”
Rachel Williams
Rachel Williams, who has worked with police on Project Titanium, was attacked by her former husband. Photograph: None
More than 5,000 firearms and shotgun licence grants and renewals have been completed using the Project Titanium questionnaire since trials began in May 2023. Seven licences have been revoked or refused and more forces across England and Wales are looking to adopt it.
Bragg said: “It’s incredible to be able to take the horrific experience I had at the hands of a licensed gun holder, and to change it into something which potentially goes on to save the lives of others, and to help remove weapons from people who shouldn’t hold them. To think that I might have been able to even help one person by doing this, that’s such a positive, such a light in a horrifically dark situation.
“Developing Project Titanium has helped me regain some of the confidence that I had lost through coercive control. I feel more like myself, more capable, than I have for years.
“This was never about unnecessarily preventing or limiting shooting; it has simply been about making the UK a safer place for the whole population.
“An abuser doesn’t have to point a gun at someone and threaten to kill them as I experienced, in order to scare a victim. The knowledge that your abuser simply possesses guns is threatening in itself. You never quite know when they may use a gun against you, but you know there is the potential.
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“The feedback received from the forces involved has been incredible. Nothing but positive. The changes are easy, cost-effective and successful – it really is a case of ‘what’s not to like?’. Why wouldn’t you choose to implement them?”
The idea for Project Titanium came out of a conversation between Rachel Williams and a Gwent police firearms licensing officer who asked her what needed to be done to keep more people safe. Williams was surprised when she learned there was no questionnaire routinely sent to partners of people who wanted guns.
“There was nothing in place like this before,” Williams said. “This is definitely going to save lives.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “Since last year, several forces have trialled the introduction of more detailed questioning as part of the licensing process to proactively identify additional concerns around an applicant which would prevent a firearms licence being given. The results of these trials are now being assessed, however the feedback received so far has been positive.”
Insp Jodie Davies, of Gwent police’s firearms licensing department, who developed the scheme with Bragg and Williams, said a key aim was to make sure people closest to applicants were heard.
She said: “It’s allowing the partners or family members to have a voice in the process and ensuring they are able to tell us information that perhaps we don’t know. Who would know that person better than the partner or family member in the household? I do think, if it hasn’t done already, it will prevent serious harm.”
This is what we're up against
A further three women were killed by men using crossbows. In 2021, the coroner, Professor Paul Marks, submitted a report to the Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Minister for Crime and Policing, Kit Malthouse. Professor Marks said he was concerned there is “no on-going control, record or licensing requirement for [crossbows]” unlike firearms and shotguns. Because of this, he said, “the police have no record of who owns crossbows, how they are stored [or] the number that are in circulation.” Marks called on the Government to review the 1987 Act and the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, “with the intention of regulating the sale and possession of these lethal weapons.” (UK House of Commons, 2021: commonslibrary.parliament.uk/how-is-crossbow-use-and-possession-regulated/). The Femicide Census supports this position and believes that ownership of a crossbow should be subject to greater regulation than is currently the case.
Of the 74 women, 42 (56.8 %) women were killed by a current or former partner. Five women (6.8 %) were killed by their son. Four (5.4 %) women were killed by other family members. Eight women (10.8 %) were killed by men that they knew in some other context. Fourteen (18.9 %) women were killed by men who were strangers. We were unable to find details of the relationship between one woman and the man who killed her. In 21 cases, there were additional victims who were shot dead Dependent children were killed in three of these cases.
In cases where other victims were killed/shot over half of the perpetrators also shot themselves dead. 38 perpetrators killed themselves at the time of the offence and one perp four days after (52% total). The rate or murder-suicide in men who use firearms to kill women is nine times higher than the rate we have calculated for men who commit femicide in the UK in general ( 8.6% based on data from 2009 – 2018). This suggests that the method of killing and the psychologies of men who choose to kill using guns combine to create qualitative differences compared to other femicides.
The 74 women were killed by 83 men. Our records indicate that of these men, 34 (41 %) had a known history of violence, of which 31 (37 %) had histories of violence against women specifically. Of the 31 men with histories of violence against women, our records indicate this was known to the police in 24 cases. In four cases these men had convictions for violence against women In addition, one man had been cautioned, one was subject to a restraining order and one was subject to bail conditions at the time he committed the femicide. In six cases no action had been taken against the perpetrator after the report/s which proceeded him killing a woman, in a further two cases charges had been dropped. We were unable to find details of what action was taken subsequent to reports to the police of violence against women in nine cases. Our data shows that men with known histories of violence against women are able to access firearms which they then use to kill.
The Femicide Census supports stronger regulation of firearms. Where a man has a known history of violence, including violence against women and/or intimate partner violence or abuse, he should never be permitted to own a firearm. If men have a licence to own a gun, this must be disclosed to partners seeking information under the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. The evidence that we have found shows that the existing ‘balance of probabilities test’ is not sufficient to save lives.
Where a man applies for a firearm licence and he has a known history of violence, consideration must also be given to this links with family members or others in his ‘firearms community.’ Cheryl Gabriel-Hooper was shot dead by her husband, a licensed firearms holder using an unlicensed gun. The murder took place 14 days after Ms Gabriel Hooper had contacted police to report concerns regarding her safety from her estranged husband. He had voluntarily surrendered his licensed weapons. This illustrates why the Femicide Census considers that the police should be granted a specific power of entry to be able to seize shotguns, firearms and ammunition where there is a risk to public safety or the peace and the certificate holder. (Question one). However, this example also illustrates that where a gun holder appears to cooperate with the police and agrees to voluntary surrender, it does not mean that the risk is gone/ or access to firearms is prevented.
There is a well-established body of research which shows that gun licensing laws affect femicide rates and in particular intimate partner femicides and mass killings, including increases in murder-suicides in countries including the USA and Switzerland (Nowak, 2012). Men are more likely than women to be bearers of guns, (Women’s International League for Freedom, n.d.). Women were found to be three times more likely to be murdered if there was a gun in their home (Langley, 2008) and research from the USA has also shown a correlation between women obtaining a gun for their own protection and risk of murder. Forty per cent of the variance in femicide rates in US states is explained by state, 2021-level firearm ownership rates alone (Siegel and Rothman, 2016).
Between 2009 and 2018, at least 54 percent of mass shootings in the USA, defined as shootings in which more than three people are killed in one event, were related to domestic or family violence, (Everytown For Gun Safety, 2021). Between 2006 and 2020, 92.5 per cent of all mass shooters in the USA were male, 89.9 per cent of mass shooters who killed family members were male, with 56.3 per cent of victims of mass family shootings and 47.1 per cent of all mass shootings being female (Fox and Levin, 2021). Meanwhile the confluence of guns, misogyny male entitlement and resentment of women’s emancipation can be seen in the 1989 massacre at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal, Canada, when Marc Lepine killed 14 women, and injured 14 others before killing himself, claiming that he was ‘fighting feminism’ before opening fire. The incident prompted the tightening of gun control laws in Canada. So-called ‘incel’ (involuntary celibate) related murders such as that committed by Elliot Rodger, 22, in Isla Vista, California, in which he killed 6 people (3 shot and three stabbed) and injured 14 others as further examples of risks to women when men can access guns. On acquiring his first gun Rodgers wrote that he “felt a new sense of power. I was now armed. Who’s the alpha male now, bitches? I thought to myself, regarding all of the girls who’ve looked down on me in the past.” (Solnit 2015) and in his video diary said “I will slaughter every single spoiled, stuck-up, blond slut I see inside there. All those girls I’ve desired so much. They have all rejected me and looked down on me as an inferior man,” (in Garvey, 2014.) Whilst we are aware that there are not currently proposals to reproduce the USA’s liberal approach to firearms ownership and licensing, it is worth acknowledging the serious impact of such lack of regulation on mass shootings and their relationship to femicide. This shows that where men are violent, abusive and/or controlling of their current or former partner, others are also at risk. For these reasons, the Femicide Census does not support any steps which would reduce the regulation of access to firearms in the UK.
UK women killed by men using firearms (2009 – present)
2010 Rebecca Thorpe
2010 Susan Huges
2010 Jennifer Jackson
2010 Jane Robinson
2010 Agnes Sina-Inakoju
2010 Aytul Serbetli
2009 Julie Harrison
2009 Mary Griffiths
2009 Jannette Jones
2009 Elaine Shaw
2009 Beverley Shears
2011 Jennifer (Jennie) Leeman
2011 Christine Chambers
2011 Judith Garnett
2012 Andrea Johnson
2012 Patricia Seddon
2012 Corrin Barker
2012 Susan McGoldrick
2012 Alison Turnbull
2012 Tanya Turnbull
2012 Jean Blakey
2012 Maureen Tyler
2012 Fiona Bone
2012 Nicola Hughes
2013 Sabrina Moss
2013 Margaret Knight
2013 Victoria Rose
2013 Hayley Pointon
2014 Christine Lee
2014 Lucy Lee
2014 Elizabeth (Anne) Knott
2014 Leeann Foley
2014 Wendy Ambrose
2014 Shereka Fab-Ann Marsh
2013 Caroline Parry
2015 Rita King
2015 Kerry Michelle Reeves
2015 Maureen Postlethwaite
2016 Allison Muncaster
2016 Claire Hart
2016 Charlotte Hart
2016 Helen Joanne (Jo) Cox
2016 Annie Besala Ekofo
2017 Pauline Cockburn
2018 Cheryl Gabriel-Cooper
2018 Michelle Savage
2018 Heather Whitbread
2011 Marion Millican
2010 Diane Harley
2011 Sophie Taylor
2012 Lauren O’Neill
2019 Christy Walshe
2019 Janette Dunbavand
2019 Marion Price (Little)
2019 Kathleen (Gwen) Gold
2019 Lyra McKee
2020 Debbie Zurick
2020 Gwendoline Bound
2020 Kelly Fitzgibbons
2020 Silke Hartshorne Jones
2020 Aya Hachem
2020 Margaret Johnson
2021 Carol Smith
2021 Catherine Wardleworth
2021 Maxine Davison
2021 Kate Shepherd
2021 Pauline Angell
2022 Wendy Morris
2022 Ashley Dale
2022 Jacqueline Rutter
2022 Elle Edwards
2023 Emma Pattison
2023 Hayley Burke
2023 Rose Jobson
In addition, the following women were shot by men using crossbows
2010 Suzanne Blamires
2010 Shelly Armitage
2018 Sana Muhammad
www.femicidecensus.org/news-and-opinions/our-response-to-the-governments-consultation-on-firearms-legislation
The brother of a businessman who shot dead his wife and daughter has joined calls for gun licence fees to increase to help prevent future killings.
Christopher Foster killed his family and then himself in 2008 in Shropshire with a gun he was licensed to use.
A five-year firearms licence costs £88, external and Andrew Foster said it should rise to meet the costs of issuing them and better fund police licensing units.
"These tragedies still keep happening, affecting families," he said.
"You won't stop them in their entirety but you will lower the percentage of these incidents if it was properly funded and properly managed.
"It shocks me it is still comparatively cheap at £88."
Andrew Foster
Image caption,
Mr Foster is still campaigning for changes to gun laws 15 years after the tragedy
Christopher Foster killed his wife Jill, daughter Kirstie and also their horses and dogs at Osbaston House, near Maesbrook. He set fire to their home before killing himself.
His brother, from Wolverhampton, said the horrific ordeal still affected his family 15 years on.
"Every time we see something on the TV, a tragedy, it sort of brings it all back and then we see the issues that keep arising that have not been resolved," he said.
Earlier this year, policing Minister Chris Philp announced a review of firearms licensing fees. A second consultation into firearms licensing ends on Wednesday, external.
It followed the mass shooting in Plymouth in which Jake Davison, 22, used a legally-held shotgun to kill his mother Maxine Davison, 51, and four others before shooting himself on 12 August 2021.
Emma Ambler, of Birmingham, whose sister Kelly Fitzgibbons and her two daughters were killed in March 2020 by her partner who then killed himself, is also campaigning for licences to cost more.
Kelly with her daughters
Image source,Emma Ambler
Image caption,
Kelly Fitzgibbons was killed at her home with Ava, four (right) and Lexi, two (left)
Both Staffordshire and West Midlands' police and crime commissioners (PCC) have called for the fees to change as they do not cover the full price of issuing them.
They lose money for every gun licence application due to the cost of vetting people and other bureaucracy, officials said.
In Staffordshire, the shortfall annually was about £300,000, the county's PCC Ben Adams said.
"It's a really important industry for Staffordshire, [licenced gun users] want a good service and in the main I think they are prepared to pay for it through their licence," he added.
Martin Parker
Image caption,
Martin Parker, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said he felt more firearms certificate holders would be "comfortable" with a fee increase
Firearms owners have experienced delays in getting licences granted or renewed, according to Martin Parker, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation.
Speaking at a game fair in Warwickshire, he said he expected fees to see a "substantial increase".
"I think most certificate holders would be reasonably comfortable with that, having not had an increase for 10 years, provided there was a level of service which supported it," he said.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said Britain has "some of the toughest gun laws in the world" and it was in the process of reviewing licensing fees ahead of a consultation "in due course".
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-66582825
Gun crime survivors create scheme to stop violent partners owning firearms
This article is more than 6 months old
Some police forces in England and Wales now ask spouses to flag dangerous traits or mental health problems
Steven Morris
Tue 9 Apr 2024 14.08 BST
Share
Survivors of gun crime committed by violent and coercive partners have worked with police to create a groundbreaking scheme designed to stop more dangerous offenders being allowed licensed firearms.
The women have helped police frame a questionnaire that firearms officers will put to the partners of people wanting a licence, which it is hoped will flag up issues such as a propensity to violence or mental health problems.
Five English and Welsh forces have used the scheme, called Project Titanium, and licences have already been refused or revoked.
The scheme, launched by Gwent police in south Wales and so far trialled by the Met, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire forces, has been inspired and informed by the survivors Rhianon Bragg and Rachel Williams.
Bragg was stalked and held hostage at gunpoint for eight hours overnight by her former partner Gareth Wyn Jones after she ended their relationship. She had repeatedly told police in north Wales he was menacing her and her four children and his licensed firearms were seized but no further action was taken and his weapons were returned.
Rachel Williams suffered serious leg injuries when she was blasted with a shotgun by her former partner Darren Williams after he burst into the hair salon in south Wales where she worked. Like Bragg, she has become a vocal campaigner on gun control.
A criticism of the gun licensing system in England and Wales has been that the voices of partners have often not been heard, even though they may be best placed to highlight any dangers.
Under Project Titanium, partners are asked 30 questions, including: “Would your partner ever get professional help if they had any mental health issues?”, “Would your partner ever hurt an animal?”, “Has your partner ever threatened to use, or has used a weapon on you?”
Rachel Williams
Rachel Williams, who has worked with police on Project Titanium, was attacked by her former husband. Photograph: None
More than 5,000 firearms and shotgun licence grants and renewals have been completed using the Project Titanium questionnaire since trials began in May 2023. Seven licences have been revoked or refused and more forces across England and Wales are looking to adopt it.
Bragg said: “It’s incredible to be able to take the horrific experience I had at the hands of a licensed gun holder, and to change it into something which potentially goes on to save the lives of others, and to help remove weapons from people who shouldn’t hold them. To think that I might have been able to even help one person by doing this, that’s such a positive, such a light in a horrifically dark situation.
“Developing Project Titanium has helped me regain some of the confidence that I had lost through coercive control. I feel more like myself, more capable, than I have for years.
“This was never about unnecessarily preventing or limiting shooting; it has simply been about making the UK a safer place for the whole population.
“An abuser doesn’t have to point a gun at someone and threaten to kill them as I experienced, in order to scare a victim. The knowledge that your abuser simply possesses guns is threatening in itself. You never quite know when they may use a gun against you, but you know there is the potential.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Headlines UK
Free newsletter
Get the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning
Enter your email address
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after newsletter promotion
“The feedback received from the forces involved has been incredible. Nothing but positive. The changes are easy, cost-effective and successful – it really is a case of ‘what’s not to like?’. Why wouldn’t you choose to implement them?”
The idea for Project Titanium came out of a conversation between Rachel Williams and a Gwent police firearms licensing officer who asked her what needed to be done to keep more people safe. Williams was surprised when she learned there was no questionnaire routinely sent to partners of people who wanted guns.
“There was nothing in place like this before,” Williams said. “This is definitely going to save lives.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “Since last year, several forces have trialled the introduction of more detailed questioning as part of the licensing process to proactively identify additional concerns around an applicant which would prevent a firearms licence being given. The results of these trials are now being assessed, however the feedback received so far has been positive.”
Insp Jodie Davies, of Gwent police’s firearms licensing department, who developed the scheme with Bragg and Williams, said a key aim was to make sure people closest to applicants were heard.
She said: “It’s allowing the partners or family members to have a voice in the process and ensuring they are able to tell us information that perhaps we don’t know. Who would know that person better than the partner or family member in the household? I do think, if it hasn’t done already, it will prevent serious harm.”
This is what we're up against
