Knives more deadly than guns says MP

12.00.00am GMT Thu 22nd Feb 2007

"Hysteria" following recent gun deaths is overshadowing the fact that three times as many people are killed by knives than they are by guns and that it is knife crime which is a bigger threat to civilised society than gun crime.

That was the comment made today by a long-serving member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Bob Russell, who is the Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester.

Knife crime is considered to be such a major issue that, prior to the gun murders in South London, he had convinced colleagues on the Home Affairs Select Committee that they should have a special sitting dealing exclusively with the increasing use of knives. This will be on Tuesday 27th March.

Mr Russell said that Parliamentary Questions he had tabled had revealed that in the past nine years a total of 2,026 people have been murdered in England and Wales as a result of being stabbed while the number killed by guns is 601.

"The statements made by the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary over gun crime have totally ignored knife crime, which they know is a far more serious issue.

"Of course gun crime is serious, but there is considerably more knife crime and more people are killed by knives than by guns. What we are seeing is hysteria whipped up by the Government to hide its own failures, and its broken promises, to be tough on the causes of crime."

Mr Russell pointed out: "Penalties for carrying and using knives are currently less than for those who carry and use guns. Knife crime should be treated on equal terms with gun crime, but the Government appear to be talking about making the gap in criminal terms even wider between these two means of murder implement."

He added: "The figures speak for themselves. Criminals are using knives more often than guns, and the number of people murdered is three times greater than those killed by guns."

Figures for the past 12 months have yet to be published, but for the last year for which they are available show that 236 people were murdered as a result of being stabbed and 77 were killed by guns. The figures for 1997 were 200 and 58 respectively.

The 3 to 1 ratio of knife murders over gun deaths has remained constant during the last two decades, but with both showing a steady increase.

Mr Russell said: "I believe that the legal system should regard knives and guns in exactly the same way. Both are weapons which kill, and knives are used to murder more people than guns are."