This text is written by, Denis Murray; it is written as an article. It is an article because you are told that he is a journalist, and he is also writing to BBC while explaining his experience.
The man writing the article, Denis Murray, is also the one speaking, he is telling his story to the readers about his first gunshot experience, in Northern Ireland, he is telling us about how he wants the streets of Belfast and Derry to become like England, Scotland, Wales and the Republican of Ireland. His biggest dreams along with many of the residents of Belfast and Derry are to be able to walk the streets without have to be armed with a gun. He would like the people to live among peace with each other. “Can't wait for the day when policemen and women on the streets of Belfast and Derry become like their counterparts in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland – and can, on a daily basis at least, not have to carry their side arms and say goodbye to the gun.” – Basically he is saying that he want the residents to feel safe enough, to say goodbye to the gun.

In the first paragraph he is talking about that only a few people have actually heard gun shots since World War II, and that there has not been a gun culture in United Kingdom, so it’s legal to have a gun by your side. It’s not like in f.eks. Denmark, were we know it’s illegal to have a gun. They don’t know how to live without any gun, to protect them. We are also told that he has seen enough guns for a lifetime, he would die happy if we didn't have to see another one ever again. The first gunfire is known as 'The troubles'. He is also telling us that gunfire sounds, sounds nothing like what you hear in movies, and he is also referring that nothing in real life can be compared to movies because he has experienced it and you are more affected by it if it happens in real life. “But real gunfire sounds nothing like it does in the movies. There's what I can only describe as a ‘’tok-tok-tok’’ sound.” This shows that underneath the lines you can tell the grief and how it affected him to say that it's nothing like in the movies, because when you see things in movies you think that, that sort of things won’t happen to you, but it did so he can relate to it now.
“One night, I half woke up. God, that's gunfire I thought, and went straight back to sleep.” This quote shows us that he is not aware of what could happen, what was right ahead of him. It also shows us that we don’t think any bad would happen to us, or the ones we are caring about, it is just something that is happening to anybody else. It is not in our reality before we actually experiences it ourselves.
He is also saying that no one he knew had ever seen something like this before, he was 18 years old incurring to him he was immortal; meaning that he doesn't really know what could actually happen to him. Or in reality he is just denying it.
His mother had experienced this thing before so she was very worried and wanted him to be safe, so she wanted to get away.
He is telling us that he was only thinking about his A-levels, he was unaware of what was really happening at the time, or maybe he just wanted to hide the fact that he knew what was really happening so he was hiding his awareness of what was really going on.
They built up massive walls to keep the Catholics and the protestant apart in the 21st century, he is telling us that it was very necessary in most areas.
Northern Ireland is a relatively better place to live now because no one is dying on the streets daily, like they did back then.
And he is also telling us that in Belfast and Derry the policemen and woman can't walk around with side arms and they would be so happy if they could like their counterparts in England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

It is spoken language because it is something that has actually taken place in real life. He is giving us the story as it happened and telling us his feeling and thoughts, we can feel his pain. It is a language that we all can understand in that way that he is not only speaking in a way that everybody can understand, he is also speaking with sensitivity that makes the reader want to carry on reading, he catches you with the way he is telling his story, for example “And I did actually hear the first gunfire of what came to be known as "the Troubles” – this makes us want to, know more about what the trouble is.

“Every night, the black and white 16mm film pictures flickered across our television screens, Bogsiders in full-tilt riots with the police, so having the nephew and the sister in was sensible.”
This is imagery because when you are reading it you can imagine them sitting inside watching television whilst riots are running outside, and how scared the children are. We can picture his reactions, his face expressions.
He uses a couple of quotes to get us to see his point of view, for example "It was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it" by this he is showing us a type of doublespeak, which was used by the Vietnamese. Basically, he saying that, you have to do something bad, before u can do something good. It kind of like this saying ‘’you have to have felt pain, before you can feel joy’’
And another example "where God would live, if he could afford the rates" by this he means that this is so perfect that even God would want to live there.

The writer’s intention is to tell us that you don’t know happiness before you have gone through hell. – Before you have experienced something that you didn’t thought would happen to you. Like he is saying, in the movies the gunfire shoot is nothing like in real life. Everything we see in movies are not something that we think would happen to us, at any chance. But things happen. And that is what his intention is.

The text is very reliable, you can relate to what he is telling us because it is very detailed and he telling us his opinions, he is also using imagery so when we are reading it we get pictures inside our heads. That makes us as readers, understand his experiences, we understand his pain and grief. He is telling us a very heartbreaking time of his life, he is telling us his dreams and hope, by saying that he would die happy if he never have to hear another gunfire.