Birmingham's Gun Quarter has taken a beating in the last 50 years, and the Birmingham City Council is about to finish it off.
Birmingham was built on the gun trade, and made a huge impact on Britain's fortunes and Empire. So many gunmakers and tradesmen have plied the gun trade in Birmingham as to be impossible to count. Firms such as Webley and Scott, W.W. Greener, Parker Hale, Westley Richards (who by the way is still there), William Trantor, the Kynoch concern and the Birmingham Small Arms Company. The list goes on and on.
The 60's brought the Ring Road project, which ended up demolishing part of the Gun Quarter and cutting it in half. Now, according to a story on Birmingham Mail.net, what serves as Birmingham's City Council want to rid itself of any association with firearms, and aims to rename the Gun Quarter St. Gearge and St. Chad after churches in the area. It is sad to see the future turning it's back on the past, but thats the way political correctness goes these days. Birmingham is responsible in large part for Britain's survival on occasion and turning your back on that history shows no gratitude.
The gun genie was let out of the box 500 years ago, and it won't go back in. What we need are sensible laws and management of the problem. Pretending they don't exist won't solve anything.
Birmingham's Gun Barrel Proof House -image by Wikimedia contributor Oosoom