As reported, a man who ran an illegal arms factory converting replica submachine guns into lethal weapons was today sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 11 years. I’m glad to see the British police have stopped a man who was intentionally helping equip gangs with automatic weapons, but this also shows that gun control laws just don’t work:
Grant Wilkinson, 34, was convicted yesterday at Reading crown court of buying replica MAC-10 submachine guns and converting them to fire. Police said his operation was one of the largest they had ever discovered. Wilkinson bought the replicas claiming to be involved in the making of a James Bond movie. Forensic scientists have linked his weapons and bullets he made to 52 shootings across Britain including nine murders. Wilkinson paid £500 for each of the replica MAC-10s, which are made in the UK. After conversion, they were sold for £2,500 each, including ammunition.
The UK is a country with some of the strictest gun control in the world, coupled with fewer civil liberties than we American enjoy, which makes police work easier. Britain is surrounded by water, which makes smuggling more difficult then it is in the United States. And yet they are unable to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. As I’ve said before, gun control laws just don’t work, because a person who is willing to commit (or help commit) murder won’t be deterred by a gun possession charge. Combine that with the same potential for profit that drug smugglers have, and there will always be people willing and able to traffic in illegal guns. All gun control laws will do is disarm the law abiding citizens, and lead to better equipped criminals.