Welcome to the latest Shopper Rant opinion column which calls for guns to be banned in the wake of the Cumbria shootings. Join the debate by adding your comments.

THE Cumbria shootings have quite rightly opened up a debate about the country’s gun laws.

Guns should be banned. It’s as simple as that.

Dunblane, Hungerford and now west Cumbria are three very isolated and rare incidents but provide ample reason as to why these deadly weapons must be prevented from ending up in the wrong hands.

The fact these sorts of tragedies are as infrequent as once every 10 years is a tribute to the UK for having some of the strictest gun laws in the world, especially when compared with a lack of control in countries such as America, where mass shootings are far more common.

Former Met Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair has said the UK’s gun laws could hardly be tighter and that the rate of discharge of firearms in London is one-nineteenth that of Los Angeles.

Whereas getting a gun in the UK is a lengthy and complex bureaucratic procedure, in America it is your constitutional right.

But clearly the sad events in the idyllic landscape of the Lake District, where one can holiday without seeing a single police car, show our laws, no matter how tough, don’t go far enough.

No matter how closely you scrutinise a person before giving them a shotgun certificate or firearms licence, there is no guarantee that a seemingly ordinary and normal person will not become the next Derrick Bird.

News Shopper: Derrick Bird

Amidst the hysteria of the shootings in Cumbria, it is easy to say that calling for guns to be banned is just a knee-jerk reaction.

But although mass shootings in the UK may be rare, and not to the extent of countries like America, let’s not overlook the endemic problems with gun crime in our inner cities.

A quick scan of News Shopper’s archives in the last couple of months illustrates the issue.

On May 30 Matthew Clement, aged 23, was shot dead in Brockley and earlier that same month 21-year-old Nathan Allen was shot dead in New Cross.

In April there were two shootings in the space of four days in Brockley.

Police and politicians hail statistics which show gun crime is falling, but figures cannot hide the tragic fact that people are still dying or getting maimed from shootings far too often.

The likes of Derrick Bird may be few and far between, but his actions should be a defining moment in ridding our streets of these lethal weapons once and for all.

This column is produced by an independent writer and in no way reflects the official position of News Shopper or its parent company.

What do you think? Should gun laws be toughened up further after the Cumbria killings? Can an incident like this be prevented from happening again? Would banning guns work? Why should people be allowed to own guns in their home?

Check News Shopper's website every lunchtime for a new daily opinion column. Tuesday is entertainment, Wednesday is a reader's rant, Thursday will cover a moral issue and Friday is sport. Be sure to have your say if you agree or disagree with what you read.