Trigger unhappy

Financial Times ^ | 24 Jun 02 | Joyce Malcolm

[white trash redneck]

A well written though, of necessity, superficial essay on how victim disarmament has not made the UK safer. Hardly a surprise to members of this forum, I suspect, but it seems that the poms need to have this pounded into them.

[Billthedrill]

These changes were made without public knowledge or debate.

And that's precisely what so infuriated gun owners during the Clinton administration - the "I'm going to stretch this just as far as I can" attitude (his words) that resulted in "sensible" legislation being turned into oppressive regulation in the complete absence of judicial or legislative review. I, for one, can do with lots less of the "we need to be more like Europe" mantra the antigun people are so fond of - we don't, and this is the reason why not. The British public did not, after all, suddenly wake up one morning and decide it didn't need firearms any more - that decision was never in their hands.

[Henrietta]

Well, folks, this is where we are headed unless we stand up and say, "Hell, no!" Will we?

[Joe Brower]

[Eric in the Ozarks]

NRA Life Member bump.

[Wm Bach]

Self-defence, William Blackstone, the 18th century English jurist, wrote, is a natural right that no government can deprive people of, since no government can protect the individual in his moment of need.

England hates her subjects and wishes they would all die.

[mad puppy]

Most familiar is the 1999 case of Tony Martin, a 55-year-old Norfolk farmer, victim of six robberies, who shot two professional thieves when they broke into his home at night to rob him yet again. Like 70 per cent of rural villages his had no police presence. He received a life sentence for killing one burglar, 10 years for wounding the second, and 12 months for having an illegal shotgun. The wounded burglar is already free.

Well, society is certainly protecting 'Tony' now! This article is seriously unbelievable which is a problem. We just refuse to believe that anything like that will happen here. The lesson I take from this farmer story is that after you shoot the bad-guys, bury them on your farm and tell no one. I'm OK with that.

[Travis McGee]

What happened to the Limies? Did the two world wars kill off most of their real men?

[Mike-o-Matic]

I'll second that (I'm also a life member). And I'll add a gut-slashin' concealed-blade cane-sword bump to boot.

[Sender]

Clearly the British have not yet gone far enough. If a defender possesses arms and hands, clearly they are in illegal possession of an offensive weapon. Even a one-legged man with no arms should be prosecuted if he attempts to kick his attackers. /sarcasm

[Fixit]

Dave Kopel wrote a great article about British incrementalism entitled All the Way Down the Slippery Slope: Gun Prohibition in England and Some Lessons for Civil Liberties in America

 

Image courtesy Hodgdon.com.

[Tacis]

The really sad part of this article is that there are US commie politicians, Kennedy, Nadler, Biden, Schmuckie and many other ultra-left wing, extremist liberals who read this and think to themselves, "Yeah, that's the way it should work."

[multitaskmom]

Too bad the farmer didn't have any pigs...

[arthurus]

Eventually, and maybe not too long, an English citizen will be prohibited from offering resistance to any person attempting to assault him. Some of our own lefties truly believe that self defense is immoral. Assault is not an evil act but the act of someone who has been warped by society/his upbringing/whatever or he is not sane and therefore should not be punished for his actions. The assailant is only responding to conditioning and cannot be faulted for that. Therapy is the treatment indicated. The victim, by resisting the assaulter, is showing that he is obviously sane and performing a rational act. That makes him culpable if he damages the assailant.

I have had this discussion with more than one lefty including with a fellow I have known since we were teenagers. He is very smart, a university professor, and doesn't rant or shout slogans, but he tut tuts and deplores every time he sees on the news that someone has preserved his life or property by fending off or wounding/killing an attacker. He has much sympathy for the poor criminal and contempt for the oppressor victim.

[Abundy]

Btt

[hopespringseternal]

Britain now has the government Hitler would have given it had he won the war.

My wife wants a vacation there. I told her to forget about it until some sanity returns to those people. Probably not in our lifetime.

[Joe Brower]

I honestly don't know. Man for man, they seem to be just like us. Some are hard, some meek, with most in the middle, just like the American sheeple. It has to be the mindset; more heavily socialized and trustful of government, to the point of cognitive dissonance. Even when their innocents are victimized, they still look for the solution to come from the same demagogues whose policies allow the crimes to arise in the first place. It's weird.

[Wm Bach]

Assault is not an evil act but the act of someone who has been warped by society/his upbringing/whatever or he is not sane and therefore should not be punished for his actions. The assailant is only responding to conditioning and cannot be faulted for that. Therapy is the treatment indicated.

Just curious, are the former Droogs now sporting checkered caps?

[taxcontrol]

I wonder if the folks in England who study martial arts will have to turn in their hands and feet 'cause they are dangerous weapons?

[Travis McGee]

It's very wierd, I don't understand it. Don't they ever wonder if they themselves might be attacked, and unable to defend themselves?