Tough on the causes of crime

Like Labour, socialists think we should be tough on the causes of crime. We have plenty of reason to want to do so. According to South London Press there is going to be a protest this weekend against gun crime in Lambeth.

[An Anti-Gun Campaigner] told the South London Press: "Gun crime is a threat to the whole of society. To sit at home and do nothing is as good as giving these people the green light.

Indeed, and we need to recognise that the cause of crime is free enterprise. These gangs aren't killing for the sake of it, but because it is business. They are entrepreneurs, looking at the comparative advantage of using guns to extract profits.

They're not the only ones making a profit. Arms manufacturers are making a tidy deal. According to a UN conference back in 2001:

[The] statistics include: 500 million small arms worldwide, $1 billion in annual illicit trade of arms, and armed conflict as the second cause of death worldwide after AIDS[Source

In a sane society where everyone could usefully employ their energy in self-fulfilling ways, where everyone could have access to leisure and culture, where there was no impetus of the fear of poverty or proseletysed creed of naked greed, then maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't need to protest about gun-crime on our streets. the statistics back this up, gun laws are irrelevent, it is economic prosperity that drives crime rates.