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Psycho Stapleton probably didn’t have a gun licence

Anyone who can calmly give his name as ‘Psycho’ when facing murder charges in a magistrates’ court is unlikely to be too diligent in his compliance with state stipulations for the possession of firearms.

So while this is pure guesswork on my part, it may well be that Kieran Stapleton did not have a licence for the weapon he allegedly used to kill Anuj Bidve on Boxing Day.

Gun control is currently in the headlines following the tragic events in Peterlee on New Year’s Day, which saw depressed taxi driver Michael Atherton slay his partner and two members of her family before shooting himself.

Atherton, of course, was lawfully able to keep six weapons, despite having his licence reviewed in 2008 after threatening to harm himself.

Understandably, local Labour MP Grahame Morris is calling for a renewed debate on Britain’s gun law, although a spokesperson for Number Ten has been quick to reject the idea.

True, the owner of Heckler & Koch, manufacturer of the fine submachine guns and assault rifles that aficionados consider the finest in the world, donates tens of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party. But there is no reason to suspect that this has any bearing on Cameron’s stance.

By all means let the question be subjected to renewed scrutiny. If Morris or anybody else has concrete proposals as to how existing arrangements can be improved, let us hear them.

But the case for fundamental change still has to be established. Gun control was substantially tightened in the wake of the Hungerford and Dunblane massacres. The police could easily have taken away Atherton’s licences had they chosen to do so; that they did not do so is a failure on their part, and not a failure on the part of the system.

In the end, no system based on the issuance of permits can ever rule out such tragedies. And the Psycho Stapletons of this world won’t take much notice of such schemes anyway.

One Comment

  1. jason says:

    a feel a wee bit sorry for stapleton……we know he got problems

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