CHAPTER 9 Continued...
The availability of section 1 firearms
Handguns and their use in target shooting 9.33 This Inquiry has been directly concerned with handguns, that is to say firearms which are designed to be held and fired using one hand. Whether they are revolvers or pistols they are generally used only for target shooting, either at traditional bulls eye targets or in "practical shooting" which involves firing at multiple and possibly moving targets to time limits. However, as I indicated in Chapter 7, they may also have a number of occupational uses. 9.34 At the end of 1995 there were a total of 32,000 firearm certificates in Scotland and 142,000 firearm certificates in England and Wales. According to Table 7 of Annex A to the Green Book, in 1995 in England, Wales and Scotland there were a total of about 200,490 hand-guns permitted on firearm certificates. The average amount of ammunition permitted ranged between 500 and 1,000 rounds per calibre. The table also shows that there were about 57,510 firearm certificates on issue allowing the holder to possess a handgun; and about 45,540 allowed the holder to possess more than one handgun. 9.35 Handguns may be either multi-shot (self-loading pistols or revolvers) or single shot. I will take each type in turn and then deal with comparisons between them. 9.36 A self-loading pistol (otherwise known as a semi-automatic) operates on the principle that after the pistol and its magazine have been charged it will continue to fire one cartridge every time the trigger is pulled until the magazine is empty. The fired cartridges are automatically ejected by the recoil action. Such pistols range in calibre from .22 rimfire up to .50 magnum, but, apart from the high power rifle cartridge, the most common is the 9 mm x 19. The barrel length can be between 2 and 14 inches but commonly is 4-5 inches. The magazine may be integral (8-10 rounds) or removable (commonly 6-10 rounds, but can be increased to 20 or more, according to the make and model). A few magazines are interchangeable between makes. It is common for military-style pistols to be used with magazines which can contain 13-17 rounds. Self-loading pistols are extensively advertised. Additional magazines can be purchased by mail order or over the counter without the need to produce any legal authorisation. A magazine which has been removed from a firearm which has been deactivated in accordance with section 8 of the 1988 Act can be used with a compatible design of non-deactivated pistol. 9.37 In a revolver the cylinder, which commonly contains 5 or 6 chambers, is revolved as the hammer is cocked and fired. The particular manner of operation depends on whether the action is single or double. Revolvers range in calibre from .22 rimfire to .50 Action Express. The barrel length is most commonly 2-6 inches. Revolvers which have a cylinder which can be swung out can be very quickly emptied of their spent cartridges and reloaded by means of a speedloader. Such devices can be bought without production of any legal authorisation. Like self-loading pistols revolvers are extensively advertised. 9.38 In the case of a single shot pistol one cartridge has to be manually loaded and extracted each time the pistol is fired. Such pistols range in calibre from .22 rimfire to high power centrefire rifle cartridges such as the .308 Winchester. This type of handgun can be used with the most extensive range of ammunition. The barrel length ranges from 2 to 16 inches. According to table 7 in Annex A to the Green Book under 5% of licensed handguns are single shot pistols. In his evidence Mr Alastair Paton, a firearms expert, observed that there was a fairly limited market for them, especially where they had short barrel lengths. According to Mr D J Penn, who has extensive knowledge of firearms, single shot pistols fell principally into one or other of the following types: (i) a very evolved, high precision gun for shooting at 50 metre distances in the Free Pistol competition, which was for .22 rimfire; (ii) a club-owned gun usually .22 calibre, for introducing newcomers to the sport of target shooting; and (iii) a very highly evolved and specialist gun for long distance shooting at distances between 300 metres and 1000 yards. Single shot pistols accounted for well under 5% of rimfire shooting: in centrefire they were very little used. 9.39 As regards the comparison between single shot and multi-shot competitive shooting Mr Penn provided the Inquiry with the following description: "Competition discipline with a single shot pistol is restricted to slow, deliberate, precision target shooting pure and simple, making no significant use of other skills such as overall physical fitness, decision-making and speed of response which all come into play with the availability of multi-shot pistols and for which the great majority of competitions are designed. Very few competition disciplines are available for single shot pistols, reflecting the now large interest in other more physically and mentally demanding disciplines. Shooting as a sport thrives on the variety of skills which can be brought to bear, and which convert shooting from what may traditionally have seemed a passive sport into one which requires and develops considerable agility and fitness of mind and body". 9.40 Mr Penn described self-loading pistols as having a distinct advantage over revolvers in those competitions which required fairly rapid firing of a series of shots. In particular pistols which were designed for competitions were almost exclusively of the "single action" type so that less effort was required to pull the trigger and the pistol was easier to control in a consistent fashion. As a result such pistols were dominant. In revolvers "double action" was an inevitable feature of contemporary designs and the forces involved tended to disturb accurate aim. For recreational shooting or shooting at a lower level revolvers would suffice. 9.41 In differentiating between rimfire and centrefire shooting Mr Penn estimated that at least 50% of club activity was concerned with the latter. Within centrefire shooting the trend was towards self-loading pistols and away from revolvers. Centrefire handguns whether revolvers or self-loading guns, were, apart from the highly-tuned and expensive single shot long-range pistols and a small number of expensive multi-shot guns, neither designed nor intended to have inherent "one-hole-group" accuracy as their sole or even principal attribute. They were designed to combine and balance a number of different features, principally reliability of operation, ease of cleaning and maintenance, accuracy, robustness in widely varying conditions of climate and use, weight, force of recoil and capacity of cartridges. In the many competitive disciplines which required centrefire handguns, inherent pinpoint accuracy of the gun was almost always less important than reliability and ease of control. 9.42 Mr Penn added that in terms of pure precision the .22 calibre was capable of levels of inherent accuracy beyond the skill of the shooter. Whether high accuracy was obtained depended on the quality of the particular gun, the quality of the ammunition and the skill of the shooter. The .22 rimfire represented the highest precision cartridge which was available. It was highly evolved. It was not possible to make a significant improvement on its performance. This was because the cartridge case had to be made of a light metal so that the rim would be crushed by the firing pin. However, in the case of .22 centrefire, which was mainly used in rifles for the destruction of medium-sized vermin, and was little used in this country at present, it was possible to use a very strong brass cartridge case with a large amount of powder hence giving much higher velocities than the rimfire. Such velocities would be in excess of 3,000 feet per second, as compared with a velocity of 1,100 feet per second for the rimfire. 9.43 Appendix 6 contains a brief description of the categories of competitions which are shot with different types of handgun. 9.44 Over the last 20 years there has been a considerable expansion in the use of larger calibre and high capacity handguns. These are based on military and police models. These are not target guns in the true and original sense, but courses of fire have been evolved for them which make use of their greater power and other characteristics, as well as calling for agility and quick thinking on the part of the shooter. This has led to the growth of combat shooting. It has led some shooters to don the trappings of combat, such as holsters and camouflage clothing. It has caused others to feel uneasy about what appears to be the use of guns as symbols of personal power. The dangers posed by the misuse of handguns Crime 9.45 It is clear that the proportion of offences in this country in which handguns were involved has been rising. Thus in England and Wales the number of offences in which handguns were reported to have been used rose from 1,232 in 1984 to 2,981 in 1994. This increase of 142% may be compared with an increase of 17% for shot guns. In each year the handgun was the single most common firearm used in robberies. Taking the longer period from 1974 to 1994 in England and Wales the proportion of all offences in which handguns were involved rose from 36% to 51%, whereas shot guns and rifles declined from 50% to 22%. As regards robberies the proportion in which handguns were used rose from 45% to 60%, whereas shot guns and rifles declined from 37% to 17%. 9.46 The study of homicides in England and Wales during the years 1992-94, to which I referred in para 9.10, showed that two-thirds of the firearms which were used in homicides connected with organised crime, drug related crime, contract killing and similar offences were handguns, but none of them were known to be legally held. In domestic homicides shot guns were used more than twice as frequently as handguns. Of the 15 handguns used in domestic homicides 6 were legally held by the perpetrator. These figures should, of course, be seen in their overall context. In the study period there were 196 cases of firearm-homicide: and such cases represented about 9% of all homicides. Thus handgun-homicides comprised a very small part of the whole. 9.47 Table 5 in Annex A to the Green Book shows the principal weapon involved in notifiable offences recorded by the police in England, Wales and Scotland in 1994. When handguns were involved they were proportionately less often fired than shot guns. However, in instances where handguns were fired they caused fatal results and injury in 11.7% and 52.3% of cases respectively; whereas, in instances where shot guns were fired, they caused fatal results and injury in 11.6% and 37% of cases respectively. The same general picture is provided by statistics relating to the use of firearms in incidents in England and Wales during the years 1992-94. In the study of serious crime in Scotland to which I referred in 9.10, although handguns featured in only 26% of the incidents (9 out of 34), shots were fired from them proportionately more often, and they were responsible for more injuries and deaths, than any other type of firearm. However it may be noted that none of them were legally held. Although the numbers are comparatively small it is perhaps worth noting that out of 16 instances when handguns were fired in notifiable offences in Scotland in 1995 a fatal result occurred in one case and injury in 10 others. In the United States of America where approximately one third of all guns owned are handguns, they account for over 85% of gun-homicides for which the type of weapon is known, as against 8% for shot guns and 5% for rifles. Lethality 9.48 All firearms are by definition lethal weapons. However, it is possible to give some comparison between single shots from different types of firearm. 9.49 Mr Paton pointed out that the amount of kinetic energy at the muzzle had been used in the Firearms (Dangerous Air Weapons) (Scotland) Rules 1969 as the means of discriminating between those air weapons which did and those which did not require to be licensed. Kinetic energy depended on the velocity of the projectile and its weight. The velocity depended on the amount of powder which was used. He provided the following as a general example, while recognising that the exact figure in a particular case would depend on the cartridge which was used:
Ease of Use 9.50 However, these are not the only considerations which should be taken into account in making a comparison between different types of firearm. A handgun is comparatively light, weighing approximately 2 lbs, as compared with 8 lbs for a rifle. It is plainly easier to carry and to conceal by reason of its size and shape. It fits into a range of holsters or other accessories which allow it to be attached to a belt under a jacket or strapped to a leg. It is easy to aim and fire. According to Mr Paton a handgun was a better firearm to have in a close encounter as it was easier to use and to move from target to target. No doubt it is for such reasons that it is attractive for use in robberies, although the sawn-off shot gun is often encountered. The BSSC submitted that there was no evidence that Thomas Hamilton would not have been able to enter Dunblane Primary School just as easily with a larger firearm, such as a 7.62 mm rifle which he held the authority to acquire. I am sceptical of that proposition. In any event the advantages of handguns are plain. Rapidity of fire 9.51 The particular feature of handguns which the shootings at Dunblane Primary School demonstrated with appalling results was the capability which semi-automatic pistols have for rapid fire. Earlier in this report I referred to the evidence given by Mr Malcolm Chisholm that when the 9 mm Browning pistol used by Thomas Hamilton at the school was tested it was found that if it was used to fire off a full magazine of 20 shots as quickly as possible the time taken for this was 5.46 seconds; and that Mr Paton gave evidence that it was consistent with his experience for this to take 5 or 6 seconds with some degree of accuracy, although this depended on the expertise and physical make-up of the person firing. At the same time I noted the reservation expressed by Mr Penn (para 3.40). The replacement of a spent magazine with a fresh one would take at most a few seconds. Mr Penn said that with practice the time could be reduced to less than 2 seconds. With .22 rimfire a higher rate may be achievable. The BSSC pointed out that due to the lower recoil forces involved in .22 rimfire it was possible to fire a greater number of controlled and carefully aimed shots in a given space of time than was possible with centrefire. This factor was of particular significance at shooting distances of 5-10 metres. I also noted that with a revolver it is possible to maintain a speed of firing which approaches that of the self-loading pistol. Further, as I stated earlier, the use of a speedloader in conjunction with a revolver which had a cylinder which could be swung out would enable a whole set of cartridges to be removed and replaced very quickly. 9.52 Mr Paton gave evidence that it would probably take longer than 5 or 6 seconds to fire a round with a single shot pistol because after firing one shot, the shooter had to lower his aim, break open the pistol, extract the spent cartridge case, pick out a fresh cartridge, put it in the chamber, close the pistol and resume his aim. It would take "10, probably 15 seconds" but this depended on the position of the shooter relative to his ammunition. Mr Penn said in evidence that he did not agree with this estimate. He said that most single shot pistols were very similar to a conventional shot gun in that when the barrel dropped the spent cartridge case could be ejected. It was possible to reload quite quickly so long as there was access to additional rounds. He recounted that he had used a .22 single shot pistol for vermin destruction with a wrist bandolier some 4 or 5 inches from the breech. With reasonable practice a shooter could get the reloading time down to about 5 seconds. I am content to accept that this could be achieved. 9.53 I should also refer to the evidence given by Mr Greenwood in a supplementary submission which was directed to showing how quickly shots could be discharged from a double-barrelled shot gun. He said that he had carried out tests using standard 12 bore cartridges with one ounce shot and a device for holding 40 cartridges head forward. Without bringing the shot gun fully to the shoulder he hit a rectangular target, measuring 2 feet x 1 foot at a distance of 15 feet, with 36 cartridges in 1 minute 56 seconds (4 cartridges fell to the ground as a result of fumbling). Bringing the shot gun to the shoulder for each shot he hit a 5 inch square target with all 40 shots in 2 minutes 40 seconds. Without the device and taking the cartridges from his pocket he hit the rectangular target with 30 cartridges in 2 minutes 30 seconds. He suggested that with practice someone like Thomas Hamilton could have improved on such times. With two or more such devices it would have been possible to fire 105 shots (the number discharged by Thomas Hamilton) within 5 minutes if the shots were directed rather than aimed. If the shots were aimed it would be possible to fire up to 75 shots in that time. If "buckshot" loads had been used, between 675 and 1,000 missiles would have been discharged, depending on whether the shots were aimed. Mr Greenwood evidently used the period of 5 minutes on the understanding that the shootings took place within that space of time.
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