Posted on 07/02/2002 10:11:06 AM PDT by COURAGE
Ron Smith's Something to Say Weekday Mornings 6:50AM rsmith@wbal.com
England and Gun Control -- What a Mess July 2, 2002 Ron Smith's Something to Say
(July 2, 2002)
Modern times have seen an ever-escalating effort on the part of Western governments to disarm their people. Gun control laws depriving individuals of their right to self-defense have gone terribly wrong if we are to believe that they have been enacted with public safety as their actual purpose.
Armed crime has been skyrocketing in England and Wales ever since the government, with the Dunblane massacre as a rationale, virtually outlawed private ownership of guns. The Firearms Act of 1997 was merely the latest in a series of laws imposed over nearly a century that have reversed the English tradition of relying on armed civilians for peacekeeping.
Furthermore, English law now for all practical purposes has made self-defense illegal. Civilians are prohibited from carrying ANY article for what they call “private defense.” These laws are vigorously enforced, with a zeal that verges on societal insanity. For while the safety of robbers and muggers is a greater concern of the courts there than the well being of an ordinary person and his property, well armed criminals are running roughshod throughout the land.
From 1997 to 2001, the rate of crime in Britain’s inner cities has risen by 91 per cent. Your chances of being mugged on a London street are an unbelievable six times greater than being accosted in New York City.
All this has prompted a history professor at Bentley College to research the English experience with gun control and write a book about her findings. She is Joyce Lee Malcolm and her book, published by Harvard University Press is “Guns and Violence – the English Experience. It was published this month and Professor Malcolm joins us to talk about it this afternoon
EBUCK
And there you have it. Stupid, evil or insane. Or all three.
The only real question left is how many bodies will be accumulating in the United Kingdom's countryside.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Slow Motion Suicide Syndrome
No more.
British police are armed nowadays, and their use of "special tactics" or SWAT teams is increasingly common as well.
Reason being, the increase of weapons use by criminals, and the massive influx of full-auto weapons smuggled into the country and sold on the black market to criminals and Youth Gangs.
I wonder how many time more likely it is than somewhere that, unlike NYC, has CCW?
Sorry, that mentality will not change in England. It is the desired outcome that socialists have been working for since the early 1900s.
As potential victims, people are told that society is harmed more when they defend themselves than when they are killed or injured in a crime. And to prove the point, the government will prosecute attempts at self defense far more intensely than "ordinary" crime. And if violent crime destroys the country, they see it as a "small price to pay" to prevent people from acting in their own defense.
The socialist elite have plenty of taxpayer-supplied protection. But to "allow" self defense is to defeat their greatest goal, which is to convince everyone that their very existence is owed to the state. And if the state tells you to die unarmed, you'd damned well better smile while doing it.
"From 1997 to 2001, the rate of crime in Britain’s inner cities has risen by 91 per cent. Your chances of being mugged on a London street are an unbelievable six times greater than being accosted in New York City.
THISArticle at WBAL 1090-AM in Baltimore which you can LISTEN TO With Windows Media or Real Player at 3:00 PM Eastern time, 12:00 noon Pacific time.
Street crime and muggings would disappear.
Listen to the BBC nightly and read a "mainstream" Brit daily (like London Telegraph) and you'll read about Britain's - especially England's - descent into Hell:
-Flagship socialized-medicine hospitals starve old patients to death without consent to clear bed space.
-Flagship socialized-medicine hospitals so understaffed that they now send patients abroad to France for surgery.
-Drastic nurse shortage in flagship socialized-medicine hospitals, brought on in large part by violent patients.
-1 police spy camera on street for every 25 Brits, undoubtably far more in urban areas.
-Police bugging without court order.
-Soaring violent-crime rates.
-Moslem enclaves in which non-Moslems are kept out by force.
Scandals of antigun politicians - from Kalifornia to Manhattan!
Liberalism is an appeal to pure emotion with absolutely no logic thrown in and this is a perfect example of its fruits.
Thanks for the post, George. As a brief (three years) resident of NYC a few years back, this statement about the level of danger on London streets is - overwhelming, to say the least. The muggers KNOW their marks aren't armed. How comforting for them.
Now Ms. McCartney can (based on personal experience) confirm the streets are, indeed, dangerous. Wonder if she's hired an armed security "attendant" yet?
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