Posted on 06/02/2010 9:37:13 AM PDT by OldDeckHand
Wow... thanks for the link. Something must of set him off. Failed romance, becoming a grandpa? Brain malfunction?Hopelessness or-—? It’s a really sad state of affairs, but really...this shooting could have happened anywhere.
Sorry ‘bout the acting out, its just that we know what comes next: Some politician is going to blame it on the “gun culture,” and Parliament is going to tighten the screws some more.
Not at all. And, why is that? Because in the US, the great majority of these shooting take place in locations that have been legally designated "gun free zones" - schools, workplaces and an occasional hospital. In none of these places are permitted concealed carry owners allowed to take their firearms, so they don't. Of course, this leaves a target-rich but ENTIRELY defenseless environment for these psychopaths to operate.
What happens EVERY DAY in this country, but is rarely reported here, and it's never reported by your British press, is that people - law abiding gun owners - defend themselves, their property and their neighbors by using their own weapons.
Several months ago, there was a report that had made it all the way over here about a woman in London who brandished a kitchen knife at some hoodlums that were trying to rob her, or cause some kind of mischief on her own property. When the police arrived, it was she who was threatened by the constables for brandishing a weapon, even though it was plainly in self-defense. That's how ass-backwards the UK has become.
The young lady's name is Myleene Klass. From January of this year: Myleene Klass (UK Actress) warned by police after waving 'illegal' kitchen knife at intruders.
Martin was jailed because he shot the burglars in the back as they ran away from the house, ergo the court decided it was excessive force.
Agree with Old Deck Hand that our British friends do not generally learn about how many forced entry/burglaries are stopped by homeowners. Many of these incidents occur in poorer areas against older residents who did not move out. Fortunately, many of these old cusses are former military and still know how to use a weapon. Very frequently, a trial is unnecessary.
Just today, there was a story about a woman preventing the rape of her teenage daughter by grabbing her handgun and holding the perp at bay. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2526128/posts
We’ll see if the Constitutionalists prevail. After all wasn’t it Sotomayor who speculated that perhaps people didn’t have a right to self-defense? Bugger that idea.
The British have never been a gun owning populace.
Perhaps my point is over your head?
McCartney's country is in a shambles with Muslims, debt etc. Yet, Paul will have the audacity to be critical of the U.S. when it was a BRITISH COMPANY, British Petroleum, that caused the OIL problem. McCartney is totally clueless. Paul has no reason to be self righteous. Paul McCartney is your typical IGNORANT, SLEF ABSORBED LIBERAL.
Paul McCartney on Obama: ‘Lay Off Him’
Fox News ^ | 6/2/10 | Fox Staff
(June 2) — Paul McCartney is a man known for his words, usually when they're set to music. But he chose some special ones at the Library of Congress to praise President Barack Obama, before whom he will soon be performing: Let him be.
“I have to say I'm a big fan, he's a great guy,” McCartney said at a Washington news conference Tuesday that was attended by politicians as well as journalists. “So lay off him, he's doing great.”
...
Perhaps as an example of his global concerns, McCartney called the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico “a disgrace.”
“I think most of us think it's a disgrace, and the fact that something like this can happen” is something that is “going to be addressed,” he said.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/paul-mccartney-on-barack-obama-lay-off-him/19500019 Oh Paul ... BP is a BRITISH COMPANY!
BP has NOTHING to do with MEXICO!
British Petroleum (BP) is a UK company.
BP plc[2] is a British global energy company which is the third largest energy company and the fourth largest company in the world. As a multinational oil company (”oil major”) BP is the UK’s largest corporation, with its headquarters in St James’s, City of Westminster, London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BP
Here are some quotes from the typical liberal mindset that you'll probably relate to:
We showed up a bit stoned, smiled a lot and hoped wed get through it. We giggled a lot - Paul McCartney
I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird.
Paul McCartney
Somebody said to me, But the Beatles were anti-materialistic. Thats a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, Now, lets write a swimming pool.
Paul McCartney
Where I come from, you dont really talk about how much youre earning. Those things are private. My dad never told my mum how much he was earning. Im certainly not going to tell the world. Im doing well.
Paul McCartney
Yes, I just LOVE LIBERAL HYPOCRISY and those that defend them. BTW, dear Paul also believes Obama is a "great guy". "I have to say I'm a big fan, he's a great guy," McCartney said at a Washington news conference Tuesday that was attended by politicians as well as journalists. "So lay off him, he's doing great." http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/paul-mccartney-on-barack-obama-lay-off-him/19500019 Yes, Paul and heights the blind hypocrisy appears to be contagious. It is Paul McCartney that is "disgusting" and the British Company, that is dragging it's feet in stopping the oil leak.
I think youre dreaming.
Presumably so.
And thats not including those illegally held. And there will be quite a lot of those.
Nobody expects a random shooter. Thats kind of the point.
What? Are you replying to the right person? I didnt state that...
Its not good is it.
“Nobody expects a random shooter”
Nor, I might add, the Spanish Inquisition!
;-)
If so, then I think you are both wrong.
One of the arguments often put forward by those who advocate "the right to bear arms" (most people on this board basically) is that "guns don't kill people. People kill people. Guns are just tools." That is 100% correct, but the argument cuts both ways. If that is true, it follows logically that the level of gun control in a particular locality matters very little compared to the relative willingness of people to pull triggers. Empirically you can see that as well. Britain has some of the most draconian gun-control laws in the world, and yet this is the third of these mass shootings in the past twenty years. Conversely, the US has much less gun control, and you have had even more of these events (although you are a larger and more populous country).
The obvious conclusion is that as far as crazies going on the rampage is concerned, the level of gun control doesn't matter very much. If it is high it doesn't encourage them, and if it is low it certainly does not deter them. It is simply invalid to use tragedies like this to promote the right of Americans to bear arms, especially when the event occured in another country with a different history and a different culture.
In the same way, that cultural and historical difference means that US gun-control lobbyists are also on shaky ground. There's no evidence that British style gun control laws would work exactly the same in America as they do in Britain. In fact I think I could guarantee that they wouldn't.
If you believe that Americans today have the right and indeed the duty to bear arms, that is a perfectly valid argument and a very defendable interpretation of the constitution. If you think that it is wrong for private citizens to own and use guns, that is also a valid argument, (but shakier when it comes to the constitution). Neither side has any need to look at what happens in the UK to make their arguments, and indeed it is a waste of time to do so, because the situation in the two countries is not the same.
My own personal viewpoint is that there will be now more calls to tighten the gun control laws in the UK. I think such controls will have zero impact on preventing tragedies like this and will instead do a lot of actual harm, including increasing the amount of violent crime. I intend to argue these points with my countrymen, but not just now. Everyone is emotional at the moment.
Oh dear. Guns are not illegal in the UK. How many times do British freepers have to say this?
Yes. Really it doesnt. Thats why it is so shocking.
37 victims. Twelve dead, but 25 injured. Five seriously, three are on the critical list.
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