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Vice Blog

LONDON – GUN FINGERS BACKFIRE

Gun fingers get shiny cinematic kudos in the new full-length Disarming Britain trailer. The violence is styled, gorgeously shot in super slow-mo, glistening to an epic soundtrack. But does it look too good for its own good? And does it do any good other than looking good? For me, the gun fingers backfire. The ad glamorizes dumb gangster histrionics and is more likely to encourage mimicking than discredit violent culture. Remember the scally who famously fired digits at politician David Cameron? I bet he loves this trailer. And that's my problem with it.

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Disarming Britain

The Disarming Britain trailer also seems to imply that the streets are
more dangerous than they used to be. Truth is, for a major
city, London has a low murder rate, a third of the total in New York.
The 159 murders recorded last year is down from 180 a decade ago.

While the number of teenage homicides has risen from 15 to 32 in the
past two years, the numerical increase is so small and suggests an anomaly not a trend. I'm not saying we shouldn't be concerned about the bloodshed. I'm
saying that melodramatic gesticulation won't help curb it.

Not A Good Look

The effect of the Disarming Britain is the exact opposite of the Metropolitan Police initiative launched earlier this year. Not A Good Look
aims to convince young people that carrying a blade is stupid and ridiculous. By focusing on knives, the Police campaign is more realistic than  Channel 4's firearm-focused fantasy. Of the 16 teenagers murdered in London in the past six months, eleven of them were stabbed. Every week 69
teenagers in the city are victims of knife crime.

TOONY