Weapons of mass bureaucracy

A recent Scotsman leader column counselling against the speedy devolution of all firearms legislation to Holyrood and calling for more effective enforcement of existing controls contains a wider lesson.

The Scottish Government has delegated powers to local authorities to control the sale of knives and earlier this year Dundee's licensing convener said he wanted the regulations to be "as strong as possible".

However, existing enforcement in the city does not inspire confidence.

For example, in 2007 the council and police rejected calls to use CCTV cameras to investigate allegations that private hire cars were picking up passengers from the street, warning of a "justified backlash from the public" if the system was used for this rather than to monitor crime, despite such a breach of the rules being widespread in Scotland, a criminal offence and rendering the vehicle uninsured.

However, a year later and an operation was launched involving plain-clothes police flagging down these vehicles in an operation entailing "weeks of planning and research".

Meanwhile, earlier this year council officials threatened to use CCTV cameras to prosecute smokers having a puff in pub doorways, while long-standing rules against publicans serving intoxicated customers have historically, of course, been flouted with impunity.

Thus the enforcement of existing legislation seems to depend largely on what's politically expedient at any particular time rather than on consistency or even the gravity of the harm being addressed, and this is not helped by the mishmash of different rules and regulations throughout Scotland where powers are delegated.

By the same token, debate over the Calman proposals and devolution of firearms legislation generally should prioritise the public good rather than political advantage.