“A surge in the availability of handguns is blighting Merseyside’s criminal underworld and intensifying the brutality of gangland disputes,” liverpoolecho.co.uk reports. “Police fear a rise in handgun shootings is making gun crime more lethal due to increased power packed by the weapons compared to shotguns.” Wait. What?

At least four of the 11 shootings on Merseyside in June were carried out with handguns…including the fatal blast that killed Yusuf Sonko.

Shotguns have typically been the weapon of choice for Merseyside’s gun thugs over recent years.

But that was because they were easier to access – thousands of shotguns are legally owned in the north west, typically in rural areas. Those collections have been known to be targeted by thieves looking to sell them on to gangs.

Now, a rise in handguns is raising the stakes among Merseyside criminals.

First of all, everyone knows the UK is gun control heaven on Earth, where criminals are forced to resort to edged weapons, which are far less lethal than firearms. So there weren’t 11 shootings in one month in Liverpool. That sh*t just doesn’t happen. [/sarc]

Second, everyone in the U.S. who knows thing one about guns knows that shotguns are far more lethal than handguns. And that criminals use handguns for their concealability rather than their firepower.

Still, you can’t blame the UK police and press for their ballistic ignorance. I’d bet a steak-and-kidney pie against a thousand pounds (money, not pie) that not one journalist at the Echo or one average Liverpudlian copper has ever even touched a handgun, never mind fired one.

Still, it’s good to know that a total handgun ban doesn’t stop criminals from obtaining them. Just in case an American civilian disarmament advocate decides to hold up The Land of Hope and Gory [sic] as a shining example of gun control Utopia.

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47 COMMENTS

  1. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we celebrate the Fourth of July. It’s a celebration of the fact that we left these morons behind 241 years ago.

    • Here, here! Funny, how the criminals in England have all the guns and the London police, and most constabulary, still carrying their d&$k in their hands.

        • Not even slightly – I’m a gun owning Brit, work in the sandbox often alongside US colleagues, and have great affection and respect for the US of A.

          Also some serious envy when it comes to legally permitted ballistic hardware.

          So again, happy Fourth to you guys! 🙂

          * Slightly tongue-in-cheek about the Liverpool thing: I haven’t ever been, but that is more a case of happenstance than because I’m avoiding the gang scene.

        • Gabriel, when you leave the sandbox, you might want to consider moving to the USA. We’re pretty friendly here. Just stay away from NY, CA, and CT states and all is good.

        • @ Maz2331:

          Something I’ve given more than a little thought to.

          But for better or worse, as Dorothy says, “there’s no place like home”. While I deplore some of our laws and the societal attitudes that have arisen from those laws (particularly around firearms and broader principles of self defence) I also love my country, and it would be a helluva wrench to cut all ties.

          If I ever made mega bucks I’d love to get a place in CO, maybe WY, as I’m a keen skier.

          And yes it’s certainly been my experience that most of the Yanks I’ve met and worked alongside have been great guys/gals.

  2. ya think they just mean that ‘statistically they’re more powerful” More pistols avail means on average they kill more people? Or they just that ignorant.

  3. That UK criminals seem to be using more handguns to commit crimes is a good example of the relative ease that they have in obtaining handguns in the first place. The UK is an island nation for cryin’ out loud; its lengthy coastlines have been used by smugglers for centuries (even during the worst of WWII the UK was running ball bearings in from Sweden) to bring in all manner of “contrabrand” (i.e., anything the current government didn’t what you to have). The UK’s stiff gun-control laws are designed to keep the domestic population cowed. Criminals know the truth. Know the right people, be willing to pay enough money, and you can have any kind of firearm you want.

  4. Honestly, I’d take a handgun with good defensive ammo over a shotgun with birdshot as a defensive or offensive weapon any day.

    I really doubt Liverpool criminals have that exact ammo situation though.

    • Definitely, but a slug is a one shot stopper of the two-legged predator, that’s hard to match with just about any other round.

      • I’d be surprised if you could find a round of slug or buckshot in the UK or any birdshot larger than #4.

        • Step 1 – open your birdshot shells and pour the shot in a pot.
          Step 2 – melt the shot on stove and pour the lead in mould.
          Step 3 – reload your newly cast slugs back into shells.
          Step 4 – shoot big honking holes in stuff.

      • I fancy you’d win that wager kenneth, but I know what they are…and like about everything else launched from a shotgun, they trump anything any handgun is launching.

    • Liverpool criminals, like criminals pretty much everywhere, can get heir hands on pretty much whatever they want.
      00 buckshot, to a criminal, is but a matter of cash, not availability.
      I would think that would be obvious, given the fact that handguns aren’t available to just anybody in England. It should be obvious that if they can get their hands on handguns, buckshot wouldn’t be anywhere near impossible to get.
      The reason they are going to handguns, and away from shotguns, is the availability of a *concealable* weapon, as opposed to a long gun, regardless of ammo availability.

      • Hate to burst your bubble, but with a hacksaw blade I can make a shotgun quite concealable, thank you.

        • “Hate to burst your bubble, but with a hacksaw blade I can make a shotgun quite concealable, thank you.”
          No bubble being burst.
          But, criminals are lazy. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be criminals (obviously not meant to be an exhaustive list of reasons why people turn criminal). There are lots of things they could do if they weren’t lazy, but there you have it.
          If they were looking for a truly devastating weapon, they’d have it in the shotgun. There must, therefore, be some reason they turn to handguns.
          Knowing that in Chicago, some street thugs are turning to long guns, we have to ask ourselves, Why? In Chicago, IMO, it’s because they know two things: long guns are more effective, and there’s no real penalty in doing so. The chances of actually being caught are slim to none.
          In England, things are different; the chances of being caught walking around with a long gun are much better than in Chicago.
          Ergo, concealability would seem to be the reason. The loss in effectiveness is worth it. The ‘trouble’ of cutting down a shotgun makes it not worth it.

  6. Oh my the shame of it. 11 shootings. That’s not close to Chiraqs half day totals.
    My Oh my the worlds going to end. Criminals with guns.

    Happy 4th and no shooting up in the air folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. “edged weapons, which are far less lethal than firearms.”

    That depends on the edged weapon and the firearm in question. After all, edged weapons were “state of the art” for close to ten thousand years (not falling out of military use until 1918), and all in all, seemed pretty damned effective, if you ask me. You just have to get “up close and personal.” A proper sword will take your head clean off your shoulders, a .380 not so much. And edged weapons never run out of ammunition.

    • I was going to say the same thing. If I had to go up against a gun versus a blade, gun every time. The wound produced by a blade also bleeds significantly longer and in greater serverity than a similar gunshot wound.

      • Then you have obviously never seen anyone shot or slashed. ‘Never bring a knife to a gun fight’. There is a reason the military ditched the blade.

  9. The typical journalist’s knowledge of firearms would rival my knowledge of Meso-American pottery shards. IE very little to none at all.

  10. I’m guessing that they are using what ammunition they steal with the gun. Probably something around 8 or 9 shot for quail. Not that lethal at longer ranges.

  11. “…blighting Merseyside’s criminal underworld…”

    So, the Merseyside criminal underworld wasn’t a blight to begin with?

    Can we import some of that blightless criminality to, say, Chicago?

    • “It’s probably due to their only being able to get birdshot.”
      You do realize that bans don’t work, right?
      We banned all sorts of drugs for recreational use here in the states. You do realize that that hasn’t worked, right?
      We, like the Brits, have banned murder. How’s that working?
      Bans don’t work. The British criminals can get their hands in anything they want, all it takes is money. Buckshot is not different. Where there’s a demand, there’s a supply.

  13. I have always wondered why so many people (especially women ) pay so much attention to the British royal family. What a bunch of inbred, useless, self absorbed, jerks!

  14. So some halfway lucky or bright criminals have figured out a single handgun bullet has more punch to it than some 2″ shot shells (probably something like 1/2-1 ounce of 6-9# shot… and they were stolen with the gun)?

    Ok well that and let’s face reality this was being brought to you by the same people who think an axe/ka-bar are less lethal than dove loads… so take all of those insights with an entire semi load of road salt!

  15. Maybe they are talking the difference between a single shot shotgun and a multishot handgun?

    Still seems an incredibly dubious statement.

  16. This is the thing……British criminals are have been different from American criminals in that they don’t commit murder as often or as easily as American criminals..that was until the foreign gangs came in…and they are more violent and ready to enforce their drug territory…..Albanians in particular….so how….gun crime is up in England…42% in London last year…..

  17. Pistols are more lethal in terms of being used in more crimes, but of course are much less ‘powerful’ on a per-shot basis. It’s asking too much for editors and reporters to know anything about the subjects they’re writing about, however.

      • Even a dove load will kill you if you’re inside my house without permission.
        Please, don’t underestimate the deadliness of an ounce of lead, no matter what size, at close range, coming at you at 1200+ fps.

        • True that at close range you’ll get something that acts like a slug, but after about 5 yards you basically turn some meat to hamburger and will not perforate bone.

  18. At least the bad guys have good taste I firearms selection. That appears to be a S&W Model 60 no-dash.

  19. Maybe there has been an influx of the Taurus judge?
    Handgun concealability with .410 shotgun power.

  21. In what universe is a Handgun chambered in 4mm or 6mm Flobert, more lethal than a shotgun??ANY shotgun???????
    4mm and 6mm Flobert are “Parlor Pistol” or “saloon pistol” calibers.
    From the late 1800’s to early 1900’s many European saloons had shooting galleries inside.
    think 22CB and 22 Colibre sans powder, loaded with a round lead ball.
    They were Intended for shooting indoors at about the same distance as a dart board.
    Most of the examples I have owned, were smooth-bore.
    Their media morons make our media Idiots sound like scientific experts of ballistics, and all things gun!!!
    I could never live in a place where you can not have a handgun and you have to buy a license for a television set!!
    1776

  22. I don’t know, some unfiltered Google image searches with search term “shotgun head wound” have revealed some victims who’s heads ranged from missing significant portions ( faceless ) to almost headless.

    At close ranges I’d take my chances with a handgun bullet as opposed to the almost explosive like damage that a 12 guage shotgun is capable of inflicting.

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