The people pulling the trigger are getting younger too: the Met says those involved are more likely to be young teenagers trying to settle a difference of "respect". They're also deliberately targeting legs to avoid killing people (just maiming them instead) - evidence of a reverence for human life or a wish to avoid a 30 year jail term for murder?
Overall firearms offences are up 17% - Sir Paul Stephenson puts this down to a "blip", for reasons we can't quite make out. After the backtracking / clarification of a 'miscommunication' over the armed patrols fiasco, could this strengthen the arguments of those who want gun toting coppers on our streets?
