[Loukas]

Hello TiBB Members. Yeah.. This is a post about Gun And Knife crime around the UK. Like most if not all of you, i am against gun and knife crime, in fact i hate it. Stupid, dumb and pointless.

Gun And Knife Crime

Last year a total of 26 teenagers were killed in London alone , nine in shootings – and 15 have died so far this year. There were 566 serious or fatal incidents involving guns across the UK. Crazy right. One of them was 17 year old Etem Celebi who lived down the road from me. He was a great mate of mine, saved me from bully's once. Etem died on the 14 of November 2007. Etem was Part of a gang which i will not name. He was signing forms for his job at the local swimming pool when they asked "Are you from round here?" he replied "Yeah!" They brought a gun out and Etem ran to save his life. My friend, who also lives on the estate, saw 2 hooded boys chase Etem as he screamed help, 5 gun shots where fired then a pause before 2 more where fired. The last shot fired got Etem in his back. Etem died in the arms of his crying parents surounded by his friends. The next day at school news spread, it was very hard. Leona Lewis atended his funarel, She babysat him, they were good friends . It's not fair. Another boy who was my friends brother was shot 3 months ago, he survived. But her and her family have now moved to Ireland to get away from it. Below is a video made by one of his close friends.

Youtube video

The Met police estimated that more than 170 gangs are operating in London. I can name 4 in Hackney. People say me "Loukas, how can you love hackney so much!? All this gun crime!" Well. It's simple. If your not involved in gangs and you don't talk to strangers then you are fine. I love hackney. It's amazing.

War is going on, not just in Iraq, in our own back garden.

I have spoke, Now its your turn.
What do you think of Gun and Knife Crime!?
If you where the police what would you do about it!?

Thank you for reading,

Loukas Aka DT. xx

[Lauren]

An extremely interesting post Loukas. It has brought to light, for me, something I have never encountered in my life. I see it all over television and newspapers but I live so far up North where the culture doesn't exist that I didn't really it was a very real thing that people faced in their lives.

Reading about it in newspapers etc is horrible. Nearly daily I see young people with a good future being killed. A one second rash decision to fire a gun and their whole life is over. And that's not just it - they have family and friends around them that have to live with this decision for their lifetime. Constantly mourning the loss, because they'll never get over something that was unjust.

I agree with the fact we have a war in our own country, nevermind the wars Worldwide. It's getting to the point where it's almost a civil war - what makes people kill their own fellow countrymen with firearms?

I know this sounds very "old fashioned" and like I'm 40 - but I genuinely believe the initial cause was media glorification. I'm not saying people like 50 cent etc... I'm talking Underground Rap, Hip Hop etc - the type that actually glorified it and made their life seem good in gangs. People wanted to become them and adopted 'colours'. However, these days I think the media aren't to blame. The "craze" has taken off... and now there is no turning back.

It's really bad to say, but, I think this is going to get worse before it gets any better. Especially now there's an "epidemic" factor about it. The kids in gangs seek infamy and attention - they will keep on killing innocent people in order for their voice to be heard - and I can't think, myself, of a way to deal with it.

I am sorry to hear about your friends/acquaintances Loukas.

[MarkWaldorf]

Brilliant post Loukas.
I live in London too, so I can understand the seriousness of it all here. I've seen people bring knives into the classroom. I've seen people put a knife to someone and threaten them. To them it was a joke, but to the person who it was placed to, it certainly wasn't. Knifes are fastly becoming a toy, an accessory. Where I'm from. its 'cool' to carry a knife. It puts you in with the people who run the school, if you like. I'm not saying they'll go out and stab someone. but why carry a knife just to fit in?

A boy from my school was also stabbed to death in a street fight. He crashed a party and was then whipped, chained and killed. These gang members carried chains around? I don't believe it was for self-defence. You don't leave the house to walk about with knifes/chains or even a gun.

I believe its the medias portrayel of knives and guns that's making things worse. Many teenagers won't be familiar with holding a knife or a gun, but these gangs are seeing it on TV and are discovering the 'power' it gives them. It can make them look hard.

When is this acceptable? You can't walk around with a knife and stab someone because 'you felt like it'! It's grown past the point now where we should wish it doesn't happen, because it is. Serious laws need to be put in place if any improvements are wished for.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, its a shame peoples lives are taken for something so stupid. Young lives as well.

[Nicky.]

Wow - them figures are really eye opening x

and about your friends - that must be really really hard to live with =( x

[Loukas]

Originally posted by Markus
Brilliant post Loukas.
I live in London too, so I can understand the seriousness of it all here. I've seen people bring knives into the classroom. I've seen people put a knife to someone and threaten them. To them it was a joke, but to the person who it was placed to, it certainly wasn't. Knifes are fastly becoming a toy, an accessory. Where I'm from. its 'cool' to carry a knife. It puts you in with the people who run the school, if you like. I'm not saying they'll go out and stab someone. but why carry a knife just to fit in?

A boy from my school was also stabbed to death in a street fight. He crashed a party and was then whipped, chained and killed. These gang members carried chains around? I don't believe it was for self-defence. You don't leave the house to walk about with knifes/chains or even a gun.

I believe its the medias portrayel of knives and guns that's making things worse. Many teenagers won't be familiar with holding a knife or a gun, but these gangs are seeing it on TV and are discovering the 'power' it gives them. It can make them look hard.

When is this acceptable? You can't walk around with a knife and stab someone because 'you felt like it'! It's grown past the point now where we should wish it doesn't happen, because it is. Serious laws need to be put in place if any improvements are wished for.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, its a shame peoples lives are taken for something so stupid. Young lives as well.

Thank you Mark!!!

Our school is normally great but i have seen some really bad things! This one boy bought in this HUGE sword in a tennis bag for protection. He was found out and permanently excluded. I was shocked. It was like a meter long! I was in deep shock and i was very scared. He's a p****!!

[Conzors]

OH POO I FORGOT TO DO THIS.

Oh Well :/.

And omg well done. You certanly put a lot of effor into doing it.

[Spike]

Great post
Those figures show how bad it actually is
I will take your advice if I ever come to Hackney
Anyone caught carrying a knife or gun should be sent to prison immediately and this should hopefully bring the crime rate down
I can't believe how bad it is and something needs to be done to stop it.

[Kate..]

Hey Loukas, I know about this and it is really hard to live with, knowing that people's friends and family are missing someone very close to them every day, I have a big experience of a death of someone close to you and it changes your life more than people actually realise.

Gun and Knife crime is stupid and I can't personally think of anything more upsetting, people's lives being lost for reasons like ego and gangs. I can't imagine what is going through the murders of Etem and many others, I don't want them to be murdered, because that is highly hypocritical, but someone needs to have a serious chat with them!

And Loukas, I love hackney too, I couldn't imagine living anywhere better as a teenager. I love my friends and stragenly enough I feel amazingly safe, even with all the gun and knife crime.

If you're not in a gang, you're safe.