Posted on 10/09/2012 9:28:15 PM PDT by smokingfrog
FIVE men have been jailed after a sniper rifle was found in the boot of a minicab in South Croydon.
Tyron Harding, 45, sold the .22 bolt-action rifle and hollow-point ammunition - designed to cause maximum injury - to his fellow defendants on November 1 last year.
Armed police officers stopped Loyan Osman, 25, soon afterwards as he travelled along Brighton Road, South Croydon, in a minicab. In his possession he had 57 rounds of ammunition.
When officers searched the boot of the vehicle they found the rifle with a sniper scope and silencer attached. It was loaded with a bullet in the breach and more in a magazine.
Osman, Anthony Hosey, 28, Khadar Mire, 25, and Nathaniel Tracey, 27, had been watched by officers as they travelled from Lambeth in Mire's BMW to buy the weapon and ammunition from Harding.
As Osman travelled back to Lambeth in the minicab his colleagues followed in the BMW.
Officers arrested Osman after stopping the cab and subsequently detained Hosey, More and Tracey following further investigation.
On December 12, officers searched Harding's girlfriend's house in Huddlestone Crescent, Merstham, which was close to the location where the weapon was purchased.
In the loft they found another .22 bolt-action rifle with a telescopic sight and silencer. Three boxes of hollow-point ammunition, containing 62 rounds, were also recovered. Harding was arrested as he returned home.
Detective Sergeant Phil Holt, of the Met's Trident Gang Crime Command, said: "These men were found in possession of the kind of lethal weaponry that is typically associated with the most dangerous of criminals.
(Excerpt) Read more at thisiscroydontoday.co.uk ...
Precisely!
That they DID get THIS kind of punishment for this kind of WEAPON is unconscionable. And I'd be saying the same thing if their names had been Achmed, Mohammed, and Abdulla.
Nobody is laughing at the .22, itself. But this is the equivalent of a million dollar judgement for spilling hot coffee. (nobody said the lady didn't get a nasty burn)
As for calling it a "sniper rifle," only if you don't know what a "sniper" is...
That silenced, scoped, .22s have been deployed as "special purpose" weapons by military, assassination, and police units, backed by heavier weapons is similarly not disputed. That's not what happened here.
A legitimate "sniper" would no more carry this weapon in the field than a soldier would carry a tricked out 10/22 for an assault rifle.
Meekly raising my hand.....
No, all we have to worry about are jackasses on our side of the ocean saying "see, this is reasonable."
There's also a reason for all those other soldiers backing up the marksman in your picture, as well as the slinged assault rifle on the guy with the 10/22.
As far as I'm concerned, throwing these guys in jail *for these weapons* would be the same as convicting them of terrorism because they bought a copy of "Unintended Consequences."
Which did the prosecution focus more upon? The dinky .22 rimfire, or the perps criminal background?
It sounds to me like they focused on the gun, so as to continue to justify their own draconian gun laws, while publicizing "guns are bad". Well I guess MEAT CLEAVERS are bad too! Do you have one in your kitchen? It's there to do maximum damage to flesh, I'd bet. You might even have a sausage grinder. You are a potential mass murderer!
More soberly;
In the U.S. a convicted felon can go straight to jail for gun possession. A convicted felon out on parole will go straight to jail for gun possession.
But let's not have everyone disarmed, or else we'll all be left as prey to those whom would rob and harm us, armed with meat cleavers... which was one of the perps previous weapons of choice, was it not?
If you are in Scotland, perhaps you could use this incident to talk some sense into the heads of your United Kingdom countrymen.
It's not the blasted .22 that is the problem, any more than a meat cleaver itself was the problem.
it is THE CRIMINAL that IS THE PROBLEM. Could there be any better example? If you cannot see that, go to your kitchen right now, and remove all knives, even the butter knives. Replace them and all the other flatware with the flimsiest plastic eating utensils made. And get rid of all razor blades too, least you or someone else be tempted to use them for a weapon.
Might as well throw out all the iron frying pans, too. Check your closet, there may be a dangerous cricket bat hiding in there. Who knows when it's going to leap out of there and bash some poor slob!
Wow, who knew I owned so many AK-47s and Glocks ;^)
One more thing. No more golfing. For you, or anyone else in Scotland. I know, the sport pretty much originated there...but those clubs they use... TOO DANGEROUS! Get rid of them immediately. People can get their emotions wound up on the golf course, you know? It’s only a matter of time before Scotland experiences a grievous national tragedy. The game is just too dangerous. It’s the clubs themselves... they can KILL!
Better lose the hat and get a "Hello Kitty" purse if you really want to fit in....
A ‘sniper’ according to Websters is “a marksman who shoots at people from a concealed place”
A scoped, silenced .22 calibre rifle is precisely the kind of weapon that would be used by a sniper according to this dictionary definition.
Dictionaries are not known for their martial acumen.
Without that context to show intent, the possession of the rifles and ammo shows only the means to carry out such plans, not actually having a plan to conduct any terrorist act more nefarious than the removal of varmints (the 4-legged variety).
I seriously there is more to this than we are being told.
Joe, I don't doubt that for a minute. But what we ARE being told is nothing short of Orwellian.
Well, that will teach you to burn Toronto.
Indeed, dear friend.
Let’s have some fun together with a story that deserves the ridicule.
I think the long sentences pretty much reflect the fact that the men jailed were career criminals and gang members, one was already out on licence yet went and committed this serious crime. Focusing on the .22 weapon/ammunition misses that these men are serious gang members and multiple offenders/career criminals. And as been pointed out by others, .22 weapons and ammo are not quite as weak as posters are making out.
I have no problem with the sentences. BECAUSE they are for the men’s continued criminal acts, not this single crime. Had the men not been career criminals with criminal records, they I can assure you would never have got anywhere near 16 yrs. Jailed yes, but probably a sentence of a third of what was handed out. Probably 6 rather than 16.
They are career criminals and gang members who bought this rifle, as well as hollowpoint ammo. What do you think they bought it for?.
They didnt get 16 yrs for having a .22. They got 16 yrs because they are violent criminals who bought the weapon and ammo clearly to shoot at other gangs, not cute squirrels. They got 16 yrs because this charge was the umpteenth for most of them.
Had they been non-career criminals, the UK sentence would have been much less. Probably a third to a half of what they got.
No, being gang members and career criminals with multiple convictions and serious histories of violence, who buy a rifle, hollowpoint ammo, a silencer and scope gets you 16 yrs. Esp when at least one of them is out on licence for another serious violent crime conviction.
And your EDL point is just stupid beyond belief.
Oh, and 96% of the UK is NOT Muslim.
And 93% is white.
And Mohammed is not the no 1 boys name in the UK.
Nor has the UK been conquered by Islam.
What IS this American obsession with the UK being a dhimmi state?.
You can quibble and cavil to your heart’s content, but that’s NOT what the story says, nor the focus of the government official’s hyperbole.
All indications from both the writer’s posture, and the spokesman’s statements, lead any non-apologist to believe the convicts’ history and character are not an issue.
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