Gun No. 6

BBC TWO, 9.00PM

One of the principal arguments offered by US gun-control opponents is that it’s not guns that cause crime but the people who use them. But when Britain outlawed handguns in 1996, the case made was that if the guns don’t exist, the crimes in which they’re involved won’t exist either. It’s an argument powerfully underscored in this documentary, which traces the criminal history of just one illegal handgun in this country, a Czech 9mm automatic. The weapon was passed from person to person in the wider Birmingham area over 10 years, and used in at least 11 violent crimes, including two murders. Zac Beattie’s film is a harrowing watch: its litany of pain, tragedy and mindless violence is told through the stories of victims and their loved ones.