Trump takes jab at London crime
IF ANYONE had any hope President Donald Trump would adopt a more conciliatory tone toward Britain before his visit in July, it was dashed on Friday when he appeared before a National Rifle Association conference in Dallas and took a jab at London’s crime rate.
“Knives, knives, knives, knives,” he said, mimicking a stabbing motion as he defended gun ownership in the United States.
Saying that Americans’ rights to carry guns were “under siege”, he said: “I recently read a story that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital right in the middle is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds.”
Appearing to link the wave of knife crimes in London to a ban on guns, he added: “They don’t have guns.They have knives, and instead there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital.”
He also drew sharp rebukes in France for using his hand in a gun gesture during the speech to mime how a gunman had killed hostages during a terrorist attack in Paris in 2015.
The reaction in Britain was weary humour and bewilderment, with many in the news and on social media questioning where the president got his information.
According to the BBC, Trump may have used as inspiration a Radio 4 interview last month with a London trauma surgeon, Martin P Griffiths, who said he was treating stabbing victims “on a daily basis”.
But the surgeon, who works for the Royal London Hospital, responded on Twitter to Trump, suggesting he had missed the whole point and saying he was “happy to invite Mr. Trump to my (prestigious) hospital”.