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Judge calls for fake gun ban (UK)
BBC ^ | 25 March 2002 | staff

Posted on 03/25/2002 11:59:37 AM PST by 45Auto

A judge has called for a ban on cigarette lighters that resemble guns after a replica was used in two carjackings.

Lanray Busari, 19, from Hackney, east London, was sentenced to six years detention for taking two cars at gunpoint within the space of four days.

There were calls for the lighters to be banned after police shot dead Brixton man Derek Bennett as he brandished a replica in July last year.

The Old Bailey heard both of Busari's victims were terrified when confronted with the realistic silver gun-shaped lighter.

"In the current climate what the justification is for the manufacture and sale of such objects defeats me," said Judge Graham Boal.

"It must be glaringly obvious that such objects might be used in a way you chose to use yours.

"The sooner they are taken off the market the better."

Shooting fears

In the first armed robbery, in Springfield Road, Hackney on 20 September last year, Busari sped off in a Ford Fiesta.

He had made its owner, Mehmet Kose, get out under threat from the imitation firearm.

In the second, a blue BMW valued at £10,000 was taken from Imtiaz Ahmed in Mount Pleasant Lane, Hackney after the lighter was held to his temple. He thought he would be shot.

When he then tried to stop the car, Busari drove at him making him jump from his path.

"These are precisely the type of robberies which are so prevalent on the streets of the cities.

"That is why the courts will mete out punishment in order to deter other young men from following your example.

"You are still a young man and I pay such regard to that fact that I feel can be justified.

"But the unhappy fact is that increasingly robberies of this kind are being committed by young men of your age.

"The message must be spelt out loud and clear - that comparative youth cannot save robbers from sentences which are designed to deter.

"I believe this is the only sentence appropriate to the gravity of the offences."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: ban; cigarette; england; lighters; morons
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When cigarette lighters are banned, only....oh, forget it!
1 posted on 03/25/2002 11:59:37 AM PST by 45Auto
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To: 45Auto
Better outlaw the thumb-first finger combo too.
2 posted on 03/25/2002 12:03:58 PM PST by Sangamon Kid
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To: 45Auto
This is a real opportunity for the Brady Boob to relocate to London where she can start up a group called CLCI, "Cigarette Lighter Control, Inc."
3 posted on 03/25/2002 12:04:28 PM PST by 45Auto
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To: 45Auto
" Busari sped off in a Ford Fiesta.."

What kind of two-bit criminal would risk jail over a Ford Fiesta?

4 posted on 03/25/2002 12:06:16 PM PST by 45Auto
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To: 45Auto
Let's go after toy guns too. They could be mistaken for the genuine article.
5 posted on 03/25/2002 12:08:37 PM PST by goldstategop
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To: 45Auto
I said it yesterday. I'll say it again. I can't wait for Britain to turn into the Third World hellhole it's racing towards becoming. It will give the entire world an object lesson in this, the three-dimensional physical universe, of the utter lunacy and bankruptcy of the "Third Way" philosophy, the oxymoronically-named "democratic socialism". We will get to see a centuries-old Western nation with a long and glorious history degenerate into something that looks like 1993 Mogadishu. Any Brits who care in the least little bit about being free at all need to get out right now.
6 posted on 03/25/2002 12:12:57 PM PST by Jonathon Spectre
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To: 45Auto
I am trying to think of some analogies to the stupid logic of these judges.

Why aren't these judges talking about a ban on criminals. Or, how the penalties are going to be so strict that someone wouldn't even dare use a gun (or a fake gun for that matter) to perpetrate this type of crime. They are in the position to do something about crime in the first place! I just don't understand it.

So I guess we need to amend the famous statement, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" to "Guns don't kill people, people kill people, but fake guns help you rob people."

I am having trouble thinking of comparable stupidity in logic (though, I am sure much exists). Perhaps some of my FREEER friends can help list similarly stupid logic.

7 posted on 03/25/2002 12:15:50 PM PST by mattdono
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To: 45Auto
Will violators of the ban be arrested by actors dressed as constables and then tried in a moot court??
8 posted on 03/25/2002 12:15:50 PM PST by tracer
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To: 45Auto
The name Fiesta was just irresistable.
9 posted on 03/25/2002 12:19:52 PM PST by Lost Highway
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To: 45Auto
Hey haven't prisoners done this with guns carved out of soap and black shoe polish?

I think it's time for the liberals to call for a ban on soap and shoe polish (since they typically don't use either of those anyway).

10 posted on 03/25/2002 12:23:37 PM PST by ElkGroveDan
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To: tracer
ROTFLMAO!
11 posted on 03/25/2002 12:23:44 PM PST by mattdono
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To: 45Auto
They will have to ban soap, too, just to be sure no one carves a gun out of soap.

They have apparently banned toothpaste already, though I am not sure if that ban was done for public safety reasons. :-0

12 posted on 03/25/2002 12:24:32 PM PST by the
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To: ElkGroveDan
One lousy minute!
13 posted on 03/25/2002 12:25:10 PM PST by the
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To: 45Auto
Foolish victims, why did they give up their cars, didn't they know that all the real guns had been confiscated?
14 posted on 03/25/2002 12:25:44 PM PST by TC Rider
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To: TC Rider
Exactly, because criminals are required under law to not own guns. These silly citizens should have known that. SSShhheeesssshh < /sarcasm>
15 posted on 03/25/2002 12:31:02 PM PST by mattdono
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To: the

16 posted on 03/25/2002 12:43:52 PM PST by ElkGroveDan
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To: 45Auto
Rudy Giuliani ex-Mayor of NY would have loved this Judge
2nd Amendment Rights:
Attacks on American Muslims Reaffirm Wisdom of 2nd Amendment

Gun Owners of America

Women Against Gun Control


The Firearms Coalition NEAL KNOX


17 posted on 03/25/2002 12:46:39 PM PST by luvzhottea
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To: 45Auto
Some of you will remember that one of the very best scenes in one of the Pink Panther movies involved one of these fake gun/lighters.
18 posted on 03/25/2002 12:54:28 PM PST by Stefan Stackhouse
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To: 45Auto
What can you say about a guy who brings a Bic to a gunfight?
19 posted on 03/25/2002 12:58:29 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: 45Auto
Isn't it already illegal to threaten force to steal from someone?
20 posted on 03/25/2002 1:00:19 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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