During a radio interview on January 24, UK Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage said the country’s handgun ban “that has been in place for almost two decades” is “ludicrous.”
He added, “If you criminalize handguns then only the criminals carry the guns.”
According to Press TV, Farage pointed out that crime “doubled” in the five years after former Prime Minister Tony Blair instituted the ban.
Heavy restrictions on handguns were first passed by former Prime Minister Sir John Major in 1996 “after a man shot dead 16 young children and their teacher in Dunblane, Scotland.” The restrictions were broadened to an all-out ban by Blair in 1997.
Farage criticized Blair’s ban as “kneejerk legislation” passed during the angst over the heinous crime.
He added that the ban “meant that the British Olympic pistol team [will] have to go to France to even practice,” which he described as craziness.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.
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