11-year-old Rhys Jones was having a “kick around” with his friends in the parking garage of Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, when he was shot and killed. His mother Melanie cradled her young son in her arms, as he died from the gun shot wound.

Police are now looking for a suspect as young as 13, who road up on a BMX bike, in dark clothes and a hooded sweatshirt. The killer held the large handgun in both hands and fired three shots, one of which hitting young Rhys.

This killing is just part of a rise in gun crimes. But, how can that be? Most regular Joes in Britain don’t have access to handguns, with Britain having enacted tough gun control laws a few years back. It seems the result has been a situation where criminals have weapons, not caring about the gun laws, and regular civilians, following the law, don’t. Actually, to most pro-gun Americans, this comes as no surprise. The killing of Rhys goes to show that gun restrictions don’t keep weapons out of the hands of the bad, only the good.

Recently, gangs in Britain have been flaunting their weapons, online. Guns have become a status symbol in parts of Britain.

One status symbol speaks louder than any other on the streets of Croxteth, louder than all the souped-up cars, gold jewellery and designer clothes to which so many local youths aspire.

It is the gun – and it has infested this otherwise decent area like a plague over the last few years – relentlessly, sickeningly, inevitably.

f you carry a gun you command respect here among your misguided peers. You are regarded as “cool”. They are brandished like trophies by the gangs that have grown up with violence, carried openly to protect their socalled territory by fear…

Divisions and rivalries simmer over into conflict. And that’s when the guns come in. The two main gangs here call themselves the Croxteth Crew and the Stand Crew, from neighbouring Norris Green.

They have a long history of violent clashes and it appears that Rhys Jones may simply have found himself caught in the middle of their turf war.

It’s hard to identify what they might be protecting in the neighbourhoods to which they lay claim, but the territorial boundaries have been fiercely enforced. First it was fists sticks and knives. Then it was guns…

“A tide of lawlessness” was how the Bishop of Liverpool described it yesterday.

The town has a dedicated gun unit of 200 officers. Guns aren’t hard to acquire (illegally) in this area. Actually, you can purchase them on the streets. But what law-abiding citizen is going to do that? They won’t. Who will? Criminals. Criminals with bad intentions. Like killing Rhys.

The gun unit is constantly raiding houses, taking weapons away. But no matter how much they do, the weapons keep coming back. The gangs continue to carry handguns, hurting others. And despite Britain’s tough gun laws, innocent people like 11-year old Rhys Jones, continue to die.

So, what does this have to do with us? I mean, after all, Croxeth is far away from your home town. Why? Because gun-grabbers want to enact tough gun-control policies here. Michael Moore referred to Britain’s gun policy in Bowling for Columbine, an anti-gun documentary that used the horrible massacre of Columbine High School, as a reason for taking away people’s Second Amendment. How well has this all worked out for Britain? Well, you tell me…