[MadIvan]

Steyn, as per usual, nails it.

Regards, Ivan

[kstewskis]

Now, in the wake of Birmingham's New Year bloodbath, there are calls for the total ban to be made even more total: if the gangs refuse to obey the existing laws, we'll just pass more laws for them not to obey.

New law: "we're reeeeealy, reeeeealy mad now, you'll obey all right!"

Like that's going to happen. Sounds like Kalifornia.

Steyn's a good fellow, sounds like the UK needs more of him!

[Dan Day]

When you disarm the citizenry, when you prosecute them for being so foolish as to believe they have a right to self-defence, when you issue warnings that they should "walk on by" if they happen to see a burglary or rape in progress, the main beneficiaries will obviously be the criminals.

The best essay *EVER* written about attitudes such as the above: A Nation of Cowards.

[Dan Day]

From http://www.mcrgo.org/photo_gallery_volk1.asp (many, many more good posters available there):

[Jonathon Spectre]

blacks, who make up 13 per cent of the population, account for over half the murders

"Racism" ping, that is to say, "Sweet, sweet truth" ping.

It's just the legacy of slavery, that's all. Someone should have to pay.

[David Hunter]

I was just watching the ITV national news; they had a report on this issue and mentioned two more murders committed with guns since new year's day. Apparently, Blunkett is meeting with Police chiefs to discuss "new, tougher gun laws". The CPS are saying there's more gun crime than ever - even after the 1997 handgun ban which they pushed for. How can you make something that's already illegal, more illegal?

What pisses me off is the way the Beeb and ITN don't question the logic of bringing in more gun laws. The ITN report I just saw showed a reporter dry-firing an imitation blank-firing replica beretta, with a voice-over saying that the government is considering banning replicas and airguns. The reason they gave for banning replicas is that they can be modified to fire real bullets. But that's extremely difficult to do and its very rare to find modified replicas being used by criminals. We have some of the toughest firearm deactivation legislation in the world. Reactivation is not something that Joe Bloggs could do in their garage.

The idea that banning airguns will stop gun crime is just ridiculous too. I don't know if you saw the recent Police and BBC lead smear campaign against the airgun manufacturer Brocock; but they libelled them in the national media by suggesting that Brocock air pistols are extremely easy to convert to functioning firearms and that this is often done by criminals. That was shown to be a blatant lie which was not picked up on by the media, or reported by them, and especially not by the BBC, who made such a big deal about it in the first place. When will the lamestream electronic media stop banging the government's drum? What a bunch of bedwetting pansies!

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping, and yes, he does nail it...

[John Jorsett]

What's the definition of a "Yardie"?

[Avoiding_Sulla]

I'm sorry. On further consideration, this commentary reveals another, even more pressing, problem.

After reading the first two paragraphs, who could fault the average, non-forum reader, from legitimately shrugging:

"Ah, just another story about failed government policy. So what else is new?"

Exactly. It is not new. And despite public awareness and dissatifaction with these outrageous failures, public officials don't still continue their errant policies, they press them further.

How can this be?

Well, few on this forum are going to be surprised. The problem remains how are we going to get our off-forum friends to take notice? Well, maybe combining two stories can help.

Mr. Steyn mocks the thinking behind anti-self defense laws. Yet those laws are merely the grim consequences of an overall process, long unabated, that in this instance is running rampant in Britain.

Please peruse this piece published by Professor Robert Higgs in January 1995, titled

The Myth of "Failed" Policies (and subsequently popularized in a Walter Williams column)

Key excerpts:

• Government policies as a rule simply are not what they pretend to be.
• When we take a realistic view of the political process, we see that so-called failed polices are nearly always spectacular successes.

What he demonstrates, and why you should bother to acquaint yourself with his work, was "if you think a government policy has failed, you are not seeing it from the perspective of the policy maker" who invariably benefits from public dissatisfaction.

The criminal justice system, for whatever reason, was not one of the examples either Doctors Higgs or Williams hightlighted. Isn't it about time it was?

In this particular instance, it is in denying you the human right of self defense that channels benefits to policy makers, policy enforcers, and their patrons.