Posted on 11/22/2004 4:41:35 PM PST by scouse
Crackdown targets knife culture
First Minister Jack McConnell has announced a five-point programme to clamp down on knife crime.
The maximum jail term for possessing an offensive weapon will be doubled from two years to four under the proposals.
He wants to ban the sale of swords and introduce a licensing scheme for retailers selling knives.
He also announced plans to give police more powers of search and arrest and to increase the age limit for buying a knife from 16 to 18.
The new measures are being drawn up by a cabinet sub-committee chaired by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson.
The cabinet agreed to establish the group last Wednesday when it received a stark presentation about knife crime in Glasgow from Strathclyde Police.
Offensive weapon
"We had a particular discussion on the issue of knife crime recently and we have agreed a package of measures that we will be consulting on early in the New Year," said Mr McConnell.
"We will be putting forward the action we believe is required to tackle the scandalously high level of knife crime in Scotland."
He said that 50% of the homicides in Scotland in 2002 were caused by knives or other sharp instruments.
The remainder of this article can be accessed at URL given above
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Classify them as "offensive weapons". I didn't say the ban made sense or was effective, now did I.
I remember reading the guidlines on some Scot police website at least 7 years ago. It was pretty sad reading.
Since "homocide" in the UK includes stopping someone from killing you I don't think much of their statistics. However, all of the real murders are committed by thugs who should forfeit their lives for their crimes. Too bad that those in the UK are willing to give up their lives so the thugs can live.
Thugs? Sounds familiar. Something I remember from "Gunga Din." Back when the Brits took offense at the behavior of Thugs.
It's all because of those < hysteria> ASSAULT KNIVES WITH EXTENDED MAGAZINES AND BAYONET LUGS AND EVIL LOOKS! < /hysteria >
When someone is a "Subject", you can do anything you want to them. You can make them wear a lampshade on their head. You can TAX them for colour television, or close the pub after lunch so they will shamble back to work.
Why, you can even make them wait six months for lithotripsy! And when you totally blow a dental extraction, you can tell them "The roots were all tangled together"*, and (Hahahhaa) they will nod sagely and BELIEVE you! It is limited only by The Owner's imagination!
* This is not fiction...I have heard from people, independently, in Cumbria and Hampshire who were fed the same story!
'course I just alerted her to it. :)
To be followed by commissions to regulate Broken Bottles, Pool Cue's, Golf Club's, Cricket Bats, Rock's.........
How did the brits become such woosies?
I can't believe it either.
special "yeast extract"
Uh-huh, I think I will stick with peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches, thank you very much....LOL
Let not your heart be troubled. Bananas will be outlawed by the end of the decade.
And the liscensing and registration of fists.
Marmite is British,Vegemite is peculiar to the Antipodes.
One believes that it historically comes from the food on the convict ships headed south. There must have been a part of the voyage where the convicts were given the good news and the bad news.
Ships Captain " Listen up chaps, first the bad news. The only thing left to eat is cow dung spread between two slices of bread."
"Now the good news, there is plenty of it!"
Even in this day and age,it is now part of Australian heritage to commemorate their noble ancestry by masticating on such sandwiches apparently on a daily basis.
This isn't going to be popular but . . . .
You need to understand some of the context here. When Glasgow is the most violent city in Europe (Moscow excepted) and when the hospitals are now being regarded as world leaders in dealing with knife inflicted trauma, then this makes sense. Every little thug in the city is now going out "tooled up", not with the specific intention of using it but almost as a fashion accesory. A lot of otherwise decent kids are under intense pressure to do the same, out of fear or peer pressure. The victims are generally from the same age group (14-18). The majority of these incidents are stemming from situations which would previously result in someone losing teeth or having a nose broken are now escalating to young kids dying in the gutters.
Now no one is saying that it is illegal to for a chef to be carrying his knives or for someone to be carrying a letterman. The onus will still be on the prosecution to establish the blade as a "per se" offensive weapon, ie carried specifically as a means of cutting someone open. What it does mean is that some glue sniffing little tosser hanging in a gang with a 10" blade in an inside pocket waiting to cut 15 yr olds for fun is going to go to jail for a longer time.
Im from the city and its like an episode from Zorro in some areas on a Friday night.
As you obviously didn't read what I posted I will summarise. No one over the age of 18 carries a blade for protection. Women do not carry blades for protection. This issue is not about home defence or self defence. We have a culture of children killing each other over nothing. You do not allow minors to hang arong street corners with handguns. Please allow us laws reflecting the same spirit.
Incidentaly I am strong believer in the principle of robust self defence. I have exercised it many times. Once memorably in your adopted city.
Ever notice that the "guns on street corners" plague is much less in shall-issue make-my-day zones of the USA? This is because the little punks know they will likely get shot themselves should they try something funny.
Forget knives, guns ought to be, not permitted, but mandatory in Glasgow.
A few "hanging judges" here in the USA would do wonders too.
Especially if some lost their heads in the process.
O.K. what did you do to offend Moose4?
I honestly think that we have an inherently violent society.
I dont believe that regulation will keep anything out of the hands of criminals. Anyone who did would be either blind or an idiot. I am neither.
Agree totally on the parental control issue, and on the home defence point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.