Xanthe and Victor Bates attended the meeting in Arnold

Victor Bates, 64, who saw his wife gunned down in their family-run shop in Arnold's high street on 30 September, said Nottinghamshire's chief constable was "obstinate in the extreme".

Mr Bates said police chief Steve Green refuses to put more police on the street.

Police superintendent Alan Butler, who represented Nottinghamshire Police at the meeting, blamed the problem of gun crime in the city on the drug trade, saying it was "fuelled by cocaine".

Drug dealers

"A great deal of the crime is drug fuelled and especially by crack cocaine.

"Nottingham is targeted by international criminals who don't even live in the UK," Supt Butler said.

He agreed that police visibility was vital to reassuring citizens about their safety.

He urged people at the meeting to call the police about drug dealers- and reassured them that any information given would be treated confidentially.

Gedling MP Vernon Coaker, who represents the Arnold area where Marian Bates was killed, agreed the area needs more police officers.

We have to deal with this gun culture Gedling MP Vernon Coaker Crime debate rages on

"We need to look more closely at gun crime and invest more money in youth workers and youth services," Mr Coaker said.

"The availability of weapons is a huge problem in the city and the use of guns is seen as glamorous - it is a fashion accessory to have a gun

"We have to deal with this gun culture."

The meeting at Arnold Methodist Church saw more than 200 people discuss gun crime with a panel that included Mr Coaker, Supt Butler and the church's vicar Rob Cotton.

One local resident, Alan, claimed he was threatened with a gun during a road rage incident, but had almost no response from the police.

He added when he got a speeding ticket, he had three letters in the post.

Lynn, a publican in Arnold, said she had dialled 999 to have police confront some some drug dealers in her car park, but they never arrived.

"That was six months ago and I am still waiting," she said.

Another woman in the audience asked how the killers of Marian Bates managed to get away in their scooter.

She said if a police car had been in the area they would have been caught.