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Karlene Smith was living in Moss Side when the first shootings started 20 years ago. On one occasion she went to a show with a Jamaican act and some boys forced their way in with guns, then started shooting at people in the queue outside. She decided to write about what it would be like if you were a parent and you had a child involved in a gang. She spoke to people who knew gang members and wrote about what she saw. She says she writes with a sense of responsibility so people like her own children will see what that sort of life means and learn to avoid it.

Chief Super. Adrian Lee is the Divisional commander of South Manchester police, where the Manchester Multi-agency gang strategy (MAGS) operates. The police were aware that no matter how much they cracked down on crime they would only deal with the gang problem if they could stop people joining them or help them to leave. So they learned from experience in the US, and formed a group of agencies to share info and work with individuals - local authority, dept of education, schools, housing, probation. It's been going for 2 1/2 years, and they are positive, but believe it's a long term strategy and they will only see real results over ten to fifteen years.

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The Deputy Chief Constable David McClone says he is really pleased about 5 year sentences - says it's positive to send out a strong message that carrying guns isn't acceptable. He believes solving the problem is a long term objective, and that it is important to involve the community as well. He says Manchester has responded to gun crime by putting armed officers on the street in high profile operations.

Gun crime has risen by 20% in a year, latest figures are expected to show.

There were reportedly about 9,000 incidents involving firearms in the 12 months to April 2002 - a rise from 7,362 over the previous year.

That represents more than 20 offences on average involving firearms every day in England and Wales, not including incidents involving airguns, according to the Home Office figures due to be released on Thursday.

The statistics come after the government this week announced a crackdown on gun crime with a series of plans to tighten firearms law.

And they are published ahead of high level talks on Friday on how to tackle gun crime, hosted by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Harsher sentences

The latest figures compare unfavourably with the 4,903 firearms incidents recorded in 1997 when Labour first took power

Earlier this week the government unveiled plans to introduce a five-year minimum jail sentence for anyone illegally possessing a firearm.

That was followed on Wednesday by the announcement that new legislation would be brought in to ban anyone carrying a replica or air weapon in a public place without a good reason.

The age limit for acquiring and using an air weapon without adult supervision will also be increased from 14 to 17.

Ministers have insisted the measures are not a snap response to the New Year shooting in Birmingham in which two teenage girls died.

The community remembers the victims of the shooting

Hundreds of people gathered on Wednesday for a candlelit vigil in Aston in memory of cousins Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, who were gunned down in a hail of bullets nearly a week ago.

Later on Thursday, a coroner is due to open and adjourn an inquest into the death of Charlene, which a post mortem examination found was caused by head wounds after she was struck three times by bullets fired from a 9mm machinegun.

Mr Blunkett also insisted the new legislation had not been watered down.

He had faced criticism from police officers after it emerged the five-year minimum jail sentence would not be imposed in all cases.

Friday's summit at the Home Office will include police chiefs, community representatives from across the country, customs and immigration officials, and the Crown Prosecution Service.

On the agenda will be gaps in the law and the rise in small arms imports from the Balkans.