Check out this article on the increase of gun related crime in England year after year.

I thought firearm ownership was prohibited in England[>:/]
[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11633-2002Dec19.html[/url]

[b]Britain's 'James Bond' Gangsters Worry Police [/b]
 
Reuters
Thursday, December 19, 2002; 10:31 AM



By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - London gangsters are arming themselves with handguns modeled on the famous Walther PPK used by James Bond as the British capital experiences a worrying surge in gun crime, the city's police chief said on Thursday.

"There is no 'street cred' in a sawn-off shotgun for the majority of today's armed criminals," London police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told reporters.

"Handguns, particularly those modeled on the James Bond Walther PPK -- real and replica -- are the weapons of choice for today's modern gunman."

Stevens was speaking out as gun crime rockets in the capital with gangsters more readily shooting rivals and the police. Most shootings are related to drug-fueled turf wars between Jamaican-based "Yardies" and, increasingly in some areas, Turkish and Kurdish gangs.

Police say there have been 200 shootings in the last eight months, compared to 171 in the same period last year, with 22 murders. Last year there were 38 fatal shootings compared to just 19 in 1992. Officers are now seizing an average of 144 guns every month.

As if to highlight Stevens' fears, two unarmed policemen were shot at in the early hours of Thursday as they pursued a suspect in the north London district of Islington, where Prime Minister Tony Blair used to live.

Two weeks ago in the same area, a policeman was shot in the stomach following a chase and is still in hospital. That same day four plain-clothes officers were shot at when they approached two suspected drug dealers.

"The threat to officers must not be underestimated. We have identified some worrying trends in gun-crime in London that are giving us serious cause for concern -- both the threat to the public and our own officers," Stevens said.

Last month mothers grieving over children killed in the drug-fueled wars on the capital's streets marched to Blair's Downing Street residence to demand tougher action.

Stevens said he hoped to have another 40 specialist armed officers by next year along with another two armed response units. Currently only about seven percent of London's police can carry a gun at any one time.

Despite his concern at the rise in shootings, Stevens said he did not envisage the majority of Britain's unarmed "bobbies on the beat" abandoning their famed gun-free image.

"God willing it won't happen as long as I'm commissioner," he told Reuters in June.

1.  Don't the cops over there have batons to protect themselves and the populace?

2.  I'll take a Glock or an AR over a Walther PPK anyday.[:D]

Monkey see, monkey do....

BTW this is an old proverb, and is not being used in a racist sense.

But then again, it's not what is said, but what is heard...[rolleyes]

Imagine how safe the UK's streets were if Bond used the ever-popular jam-o-matic .380 Lorcin!

If I'm an armed criminal and have an officer running after me,these are good odds in my favor[img]http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/shootout.gif[/img] Liberal governments just never catch on [:\]

No no no no no, they're MUCH more heavily armed than that.  They ALSO carry a whistle.

[sarcasm]Well, why not, after all, it's worked [b]SO[/b] well against drugs, it should work against guns shouldn't it?[/sarcasm]





..............................
The TV show "West Wing" strives to] present a very balanced view of an
issue, to present both sides.  The only issue we don't do that on is gun
control.
- --ANONYMOUS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "WEST WING" (IN COMMENTARY MAGAZINE
12/2000)

This proves that violent movies are evil...

All they have to do is ban handguns and everyone will be safe..  oh, wait... they already did.  (I know, it's been said before, I just couldn't think of anything original).

Idiots

The "famous" Walther PPK is a POS.  If they bothered to read the actual Ian Fleming books they would find that Q Branch was always trying to get Bond to use any other pistol besides the Walther.  Beretta or Browning were their choices.

If I were considering a career in crime, I would emigrate to the UK.  A 93% chance of running into an unarmed police officer when committing my crimes are pretty good odds.  

From the article, the police cannot even protect themselves. So sad.

I thought it was a Walther P99 now?

What's a PPK chamber anyway?  .32?  .380?  Didn't Bond have a teeny Beretta .32 at one time?  I'm not dissing the PPK or the above mentioned cartridges, but it could be worse if they were packing something more potent.

It goes back to a line in Jackie Brown that Samuel Jackson's character made about thug's choice of firearms and movies.  Make a movie where the badass has a Steyr AUG, and everyone will want one!

What the heck is this all about!!  They are trying to have 40 armed cops by next year!!  What in gods name are they thinking?  If I knew that chances are I would run into an unarmed cop, take me to the jewelry store please! [:)]

In all seriousness, do the american people, evne the antis, really want unarmed cops patrolling their cushy little neighborhoods? I think not!

Maybe they could ban guns AGAIN.

It might work the second time.

Fuck England and everything in it.

Wrong-O. For many years Bond insisted on carrying a .25 caliber Beretta pocket pistol and M overlooked it since he turned in good results.  On one mission the Beretta got snagged in it's holster and Bond was MESSED UP!

M called in Q to re-outfit Bond with a better pistol.  They gave him the Walther PPK in 7.65 mm.  At the time the books were written, the Europeans considered that to be a potent police caliber with "A delivery like a brick through a plate glass window."

Fleming's Bond kept using that pistol among other choices mission dependent, throughout his career.  Later on, Gardner had Bond switch to an HK VP70, then an M39 ASP, and eventually a succession of Browning GP 35s and the like.  I think Bond would probably have selected an HK P7M8 myself, and now would choose to carry something along the lines of the Glock single stack sub-compacts.  But that's just me.  If I wrote a spy character he would NOT have a trademark gun.  He'd use whatever the heck he needed for the mission at hand, but I'm a pragmatist.

If I was an English gangster using a Bond movie gun, it would be the Krinkov Pierce Brosnan used.

You probably face the same jail time in the UK if it is a pistol or fully auto.

It's available in either caliber also 7.65mm German (or is 7.65mm .32?).

Very concealable pistol but the dovetail on the older one really bites into your hand (painful). Just came out with a new one with a softer dovetail.

Man, o' Man, everyday brings us another reason to glory in the fact that we parted company with Britain more than 225 years ago!

How'd you like to still be hooked up with 'em now?

Eric The(OnceARebel,AlwaysARebel!)Hun[>]:)]

Bond Guns:

'Original':

.25ACP pocket pistol

'Movie':

.32ACP Walther PPK

'Current Movie':
9mm Walther P99

As for the Brits, even a Jennings would be a potent weapon over there. After all, in Britian (for the most part) only the criminals & military have pistols...

hehe

I hear ya...

Frickin dirtbags dug their own grave. I would defect if I was a citizen.

If you lived in England under the crown you would not be a citizen, you would be a subject.

Big difference.