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Evil fourishes when good men do nothing.
e-mail from a relative ^ | n/a | n/a

Posted on 01/28/2009 1:21:41 PM PST by wolfcreek

Evil flourishes when good men, Do nothing.

It is now closer to reality than you think. You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows.

One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside. As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few That are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask.

"Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times. But the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win. The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.

The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term.

How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ?

It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns.

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed Man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, Sealed the fate of the few sidearm still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took Away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.

Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA , THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."

--Samuel Adams


TOPICS: History; Society
KEYWORDS: 2nd; banglist; guncontrol; guns; ownership; shallnotbeinfringed
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How they got to where they are. A lesson for the USA.
1 posted on 01/28/2009 1:21:41 PM PST by wolfcreek
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To: Joe Brower

Bang list Ping!


2 posted on 01/28/2009 1:22:24 PM PST by wolfcreek (There is no 2 party system only arrogant Pols and their handlers)
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To: wolfcreek

It’s when it get to the sixishes that is when it really gets bad though!


3 posted on 01/28/2009 1:27:34 PM PST by woollyone ("When the tide is low, even a shrimp has its own puddle." - Vance Havner)
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To: wolfcreek

My Uncle sent me that email a few weeks ago. I was way ahead of him; I’ve known about Tony Martin for several years, IIRC. If I were in charge, the journalist who described that criminal as a “lovable rogue” would be swinging from a lamppost by now. Of course, such sentiments about non-combatant fifth-columnists is a good reason to thank God that I’m not in charge. :-)


4 posted on 01/28/2009 1:30:59 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (This election gave the drunks the keys to the liquor cabinet!)
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To: woollyone; Tax-chick
It’s when it get to the sixishes that is when it really gets bad though!

ROFL!

5 posted on 01/28/2009 1:32:24 PM PST by Constitution Day (Big Brotha Is Watching You)
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To: wolfcreek

....like the Conservatives who stayed home during the 2008 Primaries.


6 posted on 01/28/2009 1:35:26 PM PST by DogBarkTree (Sometimes you have to let it go in order to get a Grip.)
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To: wolfcreek
A follow up to that story.
Tony Martin to be sued by the burglar he shot
7 posted on 01/28/2009 1:38:42 PM PST by allmost
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To: Constitution Day; woollyone

Very good!


8 posted on 01/28/2009 1:39:22 PM PST by Tax-chick (I will not be silenced.)
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To: DogBarkTree
....like the Conservatives who stayed home during the 2008 Primaries.

I voted for Tom Tancredo, not that it did any good.

9 posted on 01/28/2009 1:43:39 PM PST by MahatmaGandu (Remember, remember, the twenty-sixth of November.)
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To: DogBarkTree

Back handed slap or merely reflecting?

I voted in both the primary and general.


10 posted on 01/28/2009 1:54:00 PM PST by wolfcreek (There is no 2 party system only arrogant Pols and their handlers)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

If I thought I was going to prison for life for simply defending myself/property, there would be a number of bodies to count.

Wonder if your Uncle knows my Dad? LOL!


11 posted on 01/28/2009 1:56:50 PM PST by wolfcreek (There is no 2 party system only arrogant Pols and their handlers)
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To: wolfcreek

Except he shot them as they were running away so wasn’t under threat at the time, makes it a slightly different.


12 posted on 01/28/2009 1:57:25 PM PST by MadMitch
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To: wolfcreek
In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few That are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.

Can't really post what I'd do in this situation. "The first one's expensive, the rest are free" should sum it up.

13 posted on 01/28/2009 2:00:03 PM PST by Centurion2000 (01-20-2009 : The end of the PAX AMERICANA.)
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To: DogBarkTree

Got proof?


14 posted on 01/28/2009 2:13:29 PM PST by rightwingextremist1776
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To: wolfcreek

“Evil fourishes when good men do nothing”

That’s more powerfully said in the bible:

The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Psalm 12:8


15 posted on 01/28/2009 2:28:47 PM PST by frposty (I'm a simpleton)
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To: rightwingextremist1776

Look up the number of people who voted Republican vs Democrat in the Primaries. It’s almost 2 to 1 in favor of the Dems. You cant tell me a lot of conservatives didnt want to be bothered.


16 posted on 01/28/2009 2:35:19 PM PST by DogBarkTree (Sometimes you have to let it go in order to get a Grip.)
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To: wolfcreek

I voted in both as well. In reflection it’s obvious that we lost because we had the wrong candidate.


17 posted on 01/28/2009 2:37:44 PM PST by DogBarkTree (Sometimes you have to let it go in order to get a Grip.)
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To: DogBarkTree
That and the fact Barry was the Power that Be's chosen one.

McQueeg was just there for laughs.

18 posted on 01/28/2009 2:42:30 PM PST by wolfcreek (There is no 2 party system only arrogant Pols and their handlers)
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To: frposty
Psalm 12:8 (King James Version)

The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

Thank you.

19 posted on 01/28/2009 2:55:21 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (!yaw gnorw eht su gnikat si noitartsinimdA amabO ehT)
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To: DogBarkTree
OK...so let me get this straight...your “proof” that conservatives “sat out” the primaries is a 2-1 ratio Dem vs Pubbie? Amazing how you can extrapolate the disparity in the numbers down to just conservatives....Care to share your mathematical formula or are you just yanking those numbers out of your sphincter? Yea I know...it doesn't take a whole lot of brains to be a RINO...yes?
20 posted on 01/28/2009 5:57:03 PM PST by rightwingextremist1776
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