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100 blade victims a month
By ANDREW NICOLL
Scottish Political Reporter
Published: 27 May 2009
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THE growing menace of Scotland’s knife culture is claiming more than 100 victims every month.
The shock new figures released yesterday show 1,278 people were taken to hospital after being attacked with a blade last year.
The worst health board area was Glasgow with a toll of 779 victims — that’s two EVERY DAY.
Last night Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken called for courts to take a harder line and cage all yobs caught even carrying a knife for two years.
He said: “These figures are a shocking tip of the iceberg. These are only the victims that were treated.
“There are many more incidents that never made it to the hospital door.
“We need to send a message loud and clear — go out with a knife and you’ll be going inside.
“Those who use knives should expect an even longer term in jail than two years. If we don’t take tough action now then the knife crime epidemic will spiral out of all control.”
The figures released by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon showed there were 109 victims in Lanarkshire, 101 in Ayrshire and Arran, 131 in Lothian and 45 each in Grampian and Tayside.
Rural health board areas were barely touched by knife crime. Borders recorded just five victims last year, Highland just nine and there were none in the Western Isles, Orkney or Shetland.
But while the Tories called for tougher sentences, one of Scotland’s top cops said automatic prison terms were not the solution.
Strathclyde Chief Constable Stephen House told Holyrood’s Justice Committee: “There is a public appetite for a person carrying a knife to be locked away.
“If someone is carrying a knife for violence, automatic jail sentences might be the right thing.
“But if people are carrying a knife through peer pressure then that needs sensible treatment. A second or third offence should get six months.”
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Two toddlers shoot siblings in US
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Two young children have been shot by their siblings in the space of 24 hours in the United States.
In Las Vegas, a two-year-old girl was in a critical condition after being shot by her four-year-old brother at their home, police said.
In South Carolina, a four-year-old boy was shot in the stomach by his three-year-old brother after the little boy found a gun.
The injured boy was expected to make a full recovery, police said.
The incident in Las Vegas happened on Thursday night after the girl's brother found a loaded 9mm handgun inside their home.
It went off while he was holding it, hitting his sister in her torso.
According to police, the father was home at the time and the gun appears to have been improperly secured.
The shooting involving the two brothers happened in Gray Court, South Carolina, also on Thursday night. They and their father were staying at the home of a family friend.
Laurens County Sheriff Ricky Chastain said it appeared the younger boy found the gun under a bed and accidentally shot his brother.
The injured boy was flown to hospital, where he underwent surgery, he said.
No charges have been filed in relation to either case.
Gun debate
The two incidents come less than a week after a five-year-old boy died after shooting himself in the head.
He had found a handgun inside his father's vehicle outside a Las Vegas pharmacy.
The father in that case has been charged with child endangerment.
In the US, the right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. There are thought to be more than 200 million firearms in private hands.
Advocates of gun control face tough opposition from gun owners.
Critics of the current gun laws link high levels of gun crime and gun-related injury with high levels of gun ownership.
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Again, guns don't kill people. People kill people. Stupidity kills people. Bad parenting kills people. In the same week that one boy was reported to have killed himself with a weapon found unsecured in the family car, unreported is how many other children were injured or killed for other reasons while playing unsupervised around the family car. How many kids knocked the car out of park and rolled over a sibling or friend? How many kids locked themselves in the car and died of heat?