Shot in Legs and Robbed

[1stWatch]

Swadlincote, UK:
A security guard at a Tesco store was shot in both legs by two men wielding handguns who robbed the store for cash and escaped in a car that was later found burning.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/derbyshire/4973378.stm

Another example of criminals who have access to guns in England. What is being done about it?

[HotelSecurity]

i think the problem is that yes criminals use guns in the UK, Australia & Canada but stats would show that it is a lot less than in the US soooo. no guns for us.

[Lawson]

I cant imagine how the bad the time for response on these calls by police is in the UK, you have 5 officers in the area, but maybe one of them is armed if you are lucky...

[1stWatch]

How are they gaining access to these weapons if the possession and sale of guns is supposed to be illegal? Also, what kind of response plan do the police have for such an incident? You'd figure by now they see these frequent robberies as a problem so you'd think they could focus some resources on the locations where this is happening, setting up some kind of sting net.

[1stWatch]

i think the problem is that yes criminals use guns in the UK, Australia & Canada but stats would show that it is a lot less than in the US soooo. no guns for us.

and when one is pointed at you, you are completely unprepared.

[Lawson]

How are they gaining access to these weapons if the possession and sale of guns is supposed to be illegal?

Probably the same way drug dealers get their hands on coke in the U.S.

[1stWatch]

Probably the same way drug dealers get their hands on coke in the U.S.

I think it would be safe to assume the illegal market for both items has a similar, if not the same, source.

[HotelSecurity]

and when one is pointed at you, you are completely unprepared.

In 30 years of doing hotel security in Montreal I can only remember 2 security people having guns pointed at them.

[1stWatch]

In 30 years of doing hotel security in Montreal I can only remember 2 security people having guns pointed at them.

Given those statistics, it would be reasonable to believe you feel comfortable it won't ever happen. The problem is that type of crime is happening more and more in places such as yours, where guns have not been able to previously proliferate. Take a look at the incident in Ireland where a man walked straight into a hospital with a loaded weapon and shot a security guard in the stomach. All "offensive weapons" are illegal in that country. According to the written law and the law of probability, he would never have been able to gain access to that facility with the weapon, but it did in fact happen. When it did, the staff there was completely unprepared for it. If I remember correctly, the shooter was not apprehended. In such a situation, crowd control would be at a loss and people would run around like chickens with their heads cut off. No evacuation plan, no containment plan, no effective emergency communication or rapid response from the police, or anything. This scenario is serious in nature and turning a blind eye to it, pretending it is all okay when in fact it isn't, will let the criminal world gain a foothold in the community and more people will die because of it.