The Cause of London’s Surge in Violence Is Obvious — but Nobody’s Talking About It

(ANTIMEDIA Op-ed) London, UK — As the United States continues to experience sensational mass shootings and many Americans call for gun control, the London is dealing with its own rash of violent crime, mostly in the form of knife attacks. Countless memes circulating on the internet have pointed out that despite the British government’s harsh gun laws, criminals […]

Two Shootings In ‘Gun-Free’ London: 17-Year-Old Fatally Shot In Tottenham

“Gun-free” London in the United Kingdom just experienced two shooting incidents in less than 24 hours.  One of those shot was a 17-year-old girl and she succumbed to her wounds.

According to the BBC, the teenage girl was found with a gunshot wound in Tottenham on Monday night and pronounced dead at the scene. A police cordon remains in place in Chalgrove Road, near Northumberland Park, in Tottenham where the girl was pronounced dead. A separate boy was also found gunshot wounds in Walthamstow earlier, and another boy who was 15-years-old was found with stab injuries.  The boy who was stabbed was not expected to pass away due to his stab wounds.

The shootings come amid concerns over rising violent crime in the capital city. London’s murders have now outpaced those in New York City. Police are not treating the shootings as linked, but there are concerns since guns have been largely illegal in the United Kingdom for over 20 years. Citizens have been banned from defending themselves with any kind of effective tool by their own government and are now nothing more than soft targets for criminals.

Stella Creasy, Metropolitan Police for Walthamstow, said the 16-year-old boy, who was shot on Markhouse Road and taken to a hospital in east London, is still in “intensive care.”

Reports and witnesses claim the mother of the fatally shot teenager could be heard screaming in agony over the loss of her daughter.  A local resident claimed to hear many gunshots which she described as a “bomb exploding,” reported the BBC. She also said: “It’s not nice. I’ve lived here for 40 years, and in the last two or three years, it’s become not a nice place. There are so many drugs, stabbings, and killings.”

David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said he is “deeply worried” about London’s rise in violent crime; particularly in his area. “There is no single cause, but there has been a big spike in both gun crime and knife crime across London,” he said. “Certainly my constituency finds itself at the epicenter of that. There are real issues about a lack of resources.” Not to mention the issue of good citizens being defenseless and at the whims of psychopaths, thanks to laws the government promised would protect them.

There have been no arrests in either shooting.  Residents in Tottenham say that violence is a regular occurrence, as stabbings and shootings are sharply and quickly rising.

 

‘Gun-Free’ London’s Murder Rate Surpasses New York As STABBINGS SURGE

In a nation that’s a gigantic gun-free zone, stabbings have surged to the point that the capital has surpassed the murder rate of New York City.  The British city’s surge in violent stabbings has seen the murder rate also spike as citizens have been denied the right to defend themselves from attacks.

A massive decline in crime has helped to transform New York City, where London is facing the opposite effect. The total number of murders in London has fluctuated over the years, but it’s risen by 38 percent since 2014. And now, deadly stabbings in England and Wales are now at their highest levels since 2011, rising by 12 percent in the year ending December 2017.

In 1990, of 2,245 people were murdered. Last year, however, that number dropped nearly 90 percent to 290 murders. The Sunday Times reported 15 people were murdered in London in February while 14 were murdered in New York City. Both cities are very diverse with large populations. London has over 8.7 million residents and New York City has about 8.5 million.

But the surge in stabbings hasn’t stopped in London. The numbers for March have come in, and they also show London as surpassing New York in murders. In March, according to the British publication, there had been 22 killings in London versus 21 in New York.

According to Fox News, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said websites and mobile phone applications such as YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram were partially to blame for the increased bloodshed. However,  The Evening Standard reported that London’s murder rate has grown by nearly 40 percent in just three years, NOT including deaths caused by terrorist attacks. 

“What’s scary about London is the randomness of the crime,” said Jacob Whittingham, charity head of programs for Fight for Peace. “With young people in London, you have no idea if and when you may be the victim of a violent crime — that’s why they feel the need to carry weapons.”  

Not to mention self-defense is a basic human right. Those who understand self-preservation want the best and most effective tool at hand to save their life. and those in the UK are being denied that fundamental right by the very law the government promised would protect them.