Criminals and gun licenses.

[modeller]

We are told gun permits are only issued to people of good character and yet Derick Bird who had several convictions for theft was still given gun licenses in 95 and 2007.
Should known criminals be given licenses or if they had them before committing an offence should the gun permit be withdrawn.?

[DrFilth]

from the bbc news site
( Bird had a previous conviction for theft, police have revealed )

now you say several convictions

wonder what the papers will make up tomorrow

[boxtops]

I had a shotgun certificate until 1988.

[Gromit]

He had a minor conviction for theft 20 years ago. Not a violent crime and hardly a reason to withdraw his firearm license which he had got previous to his conviction.

[DrFilth]

Gromit wait till sunday , one of the papers is bound to find some juicy story

[modeller]

I heard the report which said he had convictions ( plural) for theft but if as you say he had one minor conviction ( who said it was minor Gromit ,? He got 12 months suspended sentence ,not all that minor . ).
Then that's all right then . All thieves can have guns permits as long as they are only caught once.
What I found most interesting was how fast you rushed to defend the rights of a killer of 12 people. injured 11, 5 of which were blasted in the face with the shot gun.
No doubt you will also be able to justify and excuse his actions.
Good try Dr Filth lets blame it all on the newspapers.
I

[DrFilth]

modeller just waiting for the stories to be made up

who is defending the rights of a killer ?

do you want the truth or just myths ?

[jno]

if the theft was non-violent - and he already had a gun licence - then that would seem a good indication that even if he wanted to commit a crime he wouldn't use a gun in it.

But none of this really follows anyway. Thieves don't normally turn into mass murderers. Something made this guy go postal but it doesn't appear to be linked to his past criminal career.

[DrFilth]

do you have a link for
( 12 months suspended sentence ,not all that minor . ).

[DrFilth]

The Chief Constable of Cumbria, Craig Mackey, has revealed that Bird was convicted of theft in the 1990s,

[modeller]

They are reported in Google :
#." Bird was dismissed from his job as a joiner at the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria in 1990 after being convicted of stealing from his employer. He received a 12-month suspended sentence, and was allowed to obtain a shotgun licence in 1995 and a firearms licence for a rifle in 2007.# The words 'not all that minor ' were referring to 12 months being quite a lot if it was only the # minor conviction # as described by Gromit.

[joeluke]

Dr filth......killers shouldn't have ANY rights

[DrFilth]

joe give me a link to where i have said he should have ?

[modeller]

Dr Filth You state : # wonder what the papers will make up tomorrow #
and # Gromit wait till sunday , one of the papers is bound to find some juicy story #
Those statements are those of of a defending councillor not someone looking for the truth.

[DrFilth]

the truth is what you want , not some made up story

remember the dando case ?

[DrFilth]

have a read of this , notice how the word loner and he waited outside in the car which was not normal have started to come in to the reports.

then think how people have spoken about him early on today

http://www.dailymail....reasons-massacre.html

[modeller]

I think jno came nearest to actually answering the question :
# Should known criminals be given licenses or if they had them before committing an offence should the gun permit be withdrawn.? #
It's a question that undoubtably will be raised in parliament and I was wondering what ABs thought about it as a proposition.

[DrFilth]

after what has happened i would think the police will take the licence from a few more people.

[joggerjayne]

I don't know if that many gun licence holders who commit unrelated offences suddenly become crazed psychos.

I think the obsession with his gun licence, and his petty criminal record, will be a barrier to establishing the real truth.

[DrFilth]

thing is jayne people with a criminal record are not supposed to have a gun licence from what i have read

[OrcadianOil]

Yet again, some people on here who know totally zilch about firearm or shotgun legislation are talking through their collective arrisses!

I have personal experience of a case whereby an individual who had no previous convictions etc, and who legally possessed firearms, shot his mother, sister, and two strangers dead as a result of having been dumped by a girlfriend.

No one could have forseen that tragedy, nor could the latest in Cumbria have been forecast either. Unless someone does something totally blatant and obvious to suggest to the relevant authorities that they are in danger of perpetrating an outrage of similar proportions, how in hell is anyone going to be able to guess what's going to happen? Crystal balls are in pitifully short supply, unfortunately.