http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2545312/Now-Farage-wants-lift-ban-handguns.htmlNigel Farage today called for the ban on handguns imposed after the Dunblane massacre to be lifted.
The Ukip leader said the laws were ‘ridiculous’ and people should be allowed to keep handguns at home provided they are locked in a box.
The off-the-cuff remark comes at the end of what is being seen as one of Mr Farage’s worst weeks, dominated by rows over weather gay marriage causes bad weather, women are worth less in the City and if his party has any official policies at all.
Mr Farage was taking questions on a radio phone-in when he was bombarded with questions about the extreme views of some of his elected councillors and candidates.
The Ukip leader tried to laugh the questions off, insisting all of those responsible for controversial comments used be members of the Tory party.
But he courted controversy himself with the suggestion that handgun laws should be torn up.
A ban on owning most handguns was introduced by John Major’s government in the wake of the Dunblane shooting, when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 primary school children and a teacher before turning the gun on himself.
It was then extended by Tony Blair's Labour government in 1997 to cover all handguns, including .22 pistols used in Olympic competitions.
A listener, named only as John from County Durham, told Mr Farage he had never supported the ban, adding that ‘law abiding people who follow the law, are mature, should be able to get a licence to hold these sorts of guns’.
Mr Farage insisted he did not want to move to the ‘absolutely crazy’ system in the US where ‘you can go and buy automatic repeating rifles down at the local gun shop that looks more like a supermarket'.
Mr Farage added: ‘I think the knee jerk legislation that Blair brought in that meant that the British Olympic pistol team have to go to France to even practice, was just crackers.
‘ And, if you criminalise handguns then only the criminals carry the guns.
‘And, it’s really interesting that since Blair brought that piece of law in gun crime doubled in the next five years in this country. ‘
Mr Farage added: ‘I think we need a proper gun licensing system which to a large extent we already have and I think the ban on hand guns is ludicrous.’
Asked if Ukip’s policy on gun control would be to allow handguns to be ‘kept in the locked box and you’ve got your license’, he replied: ‘’Absolutely.’
Official figures from the FBI in the US show that there were 6,371 handgun homicides in the in 2012, and the number has risen every year since 2010.
During the programme Mr Farage was repeatedly challenged on why his party attracts people with controversial views.
He has spent all week fielding questions about Ukip councillor David Silvester, who suggested legalising gay marriage caused the recent storms which battered Britain.
On Monday Mr Farage also gave a speech in the City, where he claimed mothers are ‘worth less’ to employers in the City than men.
He suggested women who take time off to have children are paid less because they lose contact with their client base and struggle to succeed when they return to work.
Hours later he was being clobbered over the head with a placard as he tried to enter push his way through an angry protest in Kent.
And then yesterday he floundered during a BBC interview, when he was forced to disown the whole of his party’s 2010 manifesto, after being hit with a host of bizarre proposals he knew nothing about.
Ukip promised to improve Britain by painting trains in traditional colours, deploying soldiers on the street and enforcing a dress code for taxi drivers and theatregoers.
Despite standing on the manifesto as a candidate in the 2010 election, Mr Farage today dismissed it as ‘486 pages of drivel’.
He added: ‘I didn’t read it, nor did the Party leader, it was a nonsense, and we’ve put that behind us and moved onto a professional footing.’
However, it later emerged that he had put his name to the foreword of the manifesto.
The faltering performance came after the Ukip leader, who worked in a brokerage firm before entering politics, caused outrage this week by saying women who have children are 'worth less' to their employers when they return to work.
He claimed the City was no longer sexist as in the past, but said women who leave their client base to take ‘two or three years off’ to have a baby, put themselves at a disadvantage.
Pressed on the remarks today, he appeared to come close to losing his temper.
He told LBC 97.3: 'Maybe what we should do is just lie, maybe next time I get a question like this I’ll just lie, I’ll just do what everybody else does, I’ll say something that isn’t true and there will be no debate or argument about it.
'The fact is, you know, there are now one million men who are bringing up families at home with the women out working, so there are some changes happening in society.
'But, overwhelmingly it’s the women that not only have the baby, but really take the responsibility for bringing up the family, and there are some super women who can do that and run a big career, but it’s not an easy thing to do.'
Mr Farage denied having any idea what was in the Ukip manifesto in 2010, but he put his name to the foreword (above).
Some of the more eye-catching policies in Ukip's 2010 manifesto include:
Restrict the number of foreigners on British football teams, which it believes is behind their ‘lack of success’
Ban the burqa and hold referendums on new mosques
Axe the Ministry of Defence
Impose ‘proper dress’ in theatres, hotels and restaurants
Investigate alleged discrimination against white people at the BBC
Paint trains in traditional colours
Deploy soldiers on the street
Enforcing a dress code for taxi drivers
Make the London Underground's Circle line a circle again
Give MPs more freedom on their expenses
Return the crown to pint glasses
Topic: UKIP's Farage wants to lift ban on handguns (Read 503 times)