MORE ON BLACK GUNMEN IN "GUN-FREE" BRITAIN

Britain's inner-city streets are awash with guns. They are being used routinely by gang members to murder, intimidate and settle scores in scenes reminiscent of the 'hoods' of Los Angeles. Black people are just 10% of London's population, but 70% of shootings are now 'black on black': teenage squabbles over imagined slights, drugs and territory. Graeme McLagan in vestigates one horrifying case that began with nothing more sinister than two boys trying to chat up a girl. It sparked a cycle of gun crime and gang warfare that cost the police 5 million pounds to resolve

This is the story of how one simple act - an attempt to chat up a girl - spiralled into gang violence, and death, in the summer of 2003. Two teenage boys in a car, out cruising the streets of east London, had tried to "pull" the girl. Her boyfriend, Pepe Brown, was outraged. Although just out of his teens, Brown had a long record of violence, glorying in his street reputation as his neighbourhood's "god" and its "baddest gunman". But he had been shown "disrespect" by the youths. Their error led to a spiral of gang violence on the streets of London more akin to the hoods of Los Angeles.

Brown, the 20-year-old leader of a gang of youths in Hackney, wanted revenge on the two erring youngsters, who belonged to a rival gang. He and his gang, the Holly Street Boys, were joined by another gang, the Square Boys, based in Clapton. They had different reasons for striking at the two teenagers from the London Fields Boys (known as the LFB). One of the Square Boys' leaders, Aaron Salmon, a 17-year-old crack-cocaine dealer handy with a gun, had just been robbed by some of the LFB. At gunpoint, his car and heavy jewellery were taken, and worse - it was in front of his girlfriend.

The two gangs struck on a hot summer evening. There were at least nine of them in the hunting party, in a convoy of three cars. The senior members of the LFB, men in their mid-twenties and thirties, were known to be at a wake for a Jamaican who had been shot. The two disrespectful youths had been spotted with friends in the shadow of a tower block overlooking an area of worn green called London Fields. When the posse found them, they were playing "money-up" - throwing o1 coins at a wall, trying to win all the cash by getting their coin closest to the brickwork. As three hooded men emerged from the cars, a long-barrelled handgun alerted the targets. "It's what Clint Eastwood rolls with," an eyewitness recalled. Another gunman was seen aiming from the back of one of the cars. After shouts of "drive-by" and "machines" (guns), the group scattered.

But the two youths who had offended Brown were not there - they had left about 30 minutes earlier. Nevertheless, the hyped-up attackers were determined to get somebody. Four loud bangs were heard. One bullet smashed into a windscreen. Another whizzed by the head of a 10-year-old boy on a bike. Young Jadie Brissett, 18, was hit twice. A bullet smashed into his upper left thigh, and a shotgun blasted a two-inch hole in his chest. Despite his wounds, he clambered over a wall, ran across a small patch of grass, over a fence, and finally collapsed and died next to some dustbins. The cycle of violence had started.

Brissett was popular. His only conviction involved possessing cannabis. That same evening his friends and relatives started tracking down those they believed responsible. The resulting retaliation caused more bloodshed, more grief and a criminal investigation that culminated in an estimated 5 million pounds in police and court costs.....

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Major Victory For Firearms Owners And Freedom In Louisiana

The United States District Court for the Eastern District in Louisiana today sided with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and issued a restraining order to bar further gun confiscations from peaceable and law-abiding victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

"This is a significant victory for freedom and for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The court's ruling is instant relief for the victims who now have an effective means of defending themselves from the robbers and rapists that seek to further exploit the remnants of their shattered lives," said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.

Joining LaPierre in hailing the U.S. District Court decision was NRA chief lobbyist Chris W. Cox. "This is an important victory. But the battle is not over. The NRA will remedy state emergency statutes in all 50 states, if needed, to ensure that this injustice does not happen again."

The controversy erupted when The New York Times reported, the New Orleans superintendent of police directed that no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to have guns and that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons." ABC News quoted New Orleans' deputy police chief, saying, "No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons."

The NRA also pledged that it will continue its work to ensure that every single firearm arbitrarily and unlawfully seized under this directive is returned to the rightful law-abiding owner.

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