Posted on 06/09/2006 4:22:18 PM PDT by Graybeard58
In 1997, Great Britain outlawed private ownership of handguns, and by 2003, gun crimes had doubled and violent crime had increased markedly. Those numbers continue to rise. Now knife crimes are increasing in Britain. For the most recent one-year period for which government records are available, 29 percent of homicides -- twice the rate of the United States -- were committed with "sharp instruments": knives, switchblades, etc. London had 12,589 knife-related crimes, most involving teenage boys. Knives are becoming the weapon of choice for young people, criminologists say, because they're easier to get and "less illegal" than guns.
It's not as if Britain doesn't have knife laws, however. Students can get up to four years in prison just for bringing a knife to school. But the rise in knife crime is related to the gun ban because criminals, whether wielding a knife or a pistol, know the government has disarmed their intended victims.
Officials are responding to the spike in knife attacks and homicides with an amnesty program. Through June 30, thugs may surrender their knives at police stations, schools, churches and supermarkets. As similar efforts the world over have shown, amnesty doesn't work because it aims to disarm people who have no intention of giving up their weapons.
Meanwhile, Parliament is considering measures to make it illegal for anyone under 18 to buy a knife, give teachers the right to search students for weapons and mandate jail time for possessing a knife "without cause." But history has shown repeatedly that making weapons "more illegal" won't make the public safer; arming the people does.
In the last decade, while right-to-carry laws expanded in this country, violent-crime rates dropped. John Barnes of the Washington Policy Center reports 40 states now issue permits for people to carry guns. Common sense tells us the right to carry deters crime, and Mr. Barnes provides the statistics to back us up. "Research shows at least 2.5 million protective uses of guns each year in the United States. Guns are used about three to five times as often for defensive purposes as for criminal purposes. Most often the mere sight of a gun prevents a crime from occurring or getting worse."
Gun ownership is not only a constitutional right, he notes, "it is a proven way to reduce crime and save lives." Food for thought for Britain, Hartford and other places where government has given criminals the upper hand by disarming the public.
I don't know why but, this reminds me of that "All in the Family" episode where Gloria is shrieking about the number of people killed by guns to which Archie responds, "Would you rather they was pushed outta windows"?
Let's Box!
by this time next year they will be banning cricket bats
Bear with me on this...this is a newspaper editorial in the Northeast ( as in *liberal Northeast*) that is in favor of carry laws? I didn't check, has Hell frozen over? It's still hot here...
I'm sure this is missing from the CNN archives...
but years ago (late 1980s?)
Ted Koppel was on The Larry King Show.
King asked Koppel about gun control and Ted said he wasn't really for it.
After King about swallowed his dentures, Koppel said that while he'd
done his turn as a reporter in Asia, he found that when there's gun control...
people just become very proficient at using knives instead. And the
results are not pretty.
I'm sure Koppel got the message to never say such a thing again.
BTW- buy a Geno's steak this week end and in English.
The answer is obvious!
Bann all knives. Forks too! They also have sharp points on them.
But there is another danger out there which has gone unaddressed long enough. What about banning all baseball bats? They should only allow the nerf type to be sold without a license over the counter. Stores like Wall Mart are irresponsible for selling baseball bats in their store alltogether. Only trained professionals should be allowed to handle such a dangerous blunt object. We should have baseball bat registration. Mandatory baseball bat training for all those seeking to be irresponsible enough to want one of those horrible things. We need to tax them too while at it. There should be some sort of tax to discourage their purchase. After all, we the people are paying for the environmental damage. Just think of how much wood is used to make them. And what about law suits. I think every baseball bat manufacturer should be held “extra” liable for anything that is ever done with one of those bats. Anyone getting that bat stuck in an orifice of their body should have a right to sue Louisville Slugger.
What about spoons? Should we ban those too?
40 or more years ago in S.E Los Angeles where there was kind of a border between the black and mexican communities there used to be a lot of bar fights.
It was always kind of joke that the mexicans didn't fare too well since they came to a gun fight with their knives!
Waterbury Republican-American is consistently conservative with their editorials, I have been reading them and posting them for almost 3 years.
Unfortunately, the liberals have absolutely no common sense. Next they will outlaw rocks and sticks and blunt ogjects. When that doesn't work, they will ban fists and heads (can't have people headbutting each other).
Sometimes I wonder if their long-term goal is a total police state, or a planet devoid of human life. (Actually, if you search "Human Extinction Project" you will find a group who supports this.)
Rush said it perfectly: Liberalism is a religion. You have to put faith in this stuff, because facts completely destroy it.
Mean people are gonna be mean, period.
You don't want to know what I can do with a grapefruit spoon. It ain't pretty.
Also, things that are blunt are banned, and things that are heavy are banned, and things that are blunt AND heavy are RIGHT OUT AS WELL!!!
Well, lets see... that about cover it then???
Coming to you straight from the "Brass City", living up to its name.
They should be banned. getting grape fruit juice in the eye is not pleasant.
I only use it in dire emergencies. Such as someone going after my waffles. Or if I think they might go after my waffles. Or bacon.
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