They'll take my knife when they pry
if from my cold dead fingers.
Posted on 08/23/2004 12:19:34 PM PDT by neverdem
“A MAN was fatally stabbed after he commented on another man’s hairstyle in an apartment lobby, deputies said.” — Pompano Beach, Fla., Associated Press, Aug. 15, 2004.
“A Highland Park man was sentenced to 35 years in prison Thursday for the stabbing death of a woman last year.” — Chicago Tribune, July 30, 2004.
“In a statement to police, the mother said she stabbed Kayla in the chest with a foot-long butcher knife.” — Buffalo News, July 20, 2004.
The above cases all involved butcher knives and represent just three of many thousands of butcher-knife stabbings that have occurred in recent years. I checked it out in an electronic library, and let me tell you, some of the butcher-knife slayings you can read about there will make your stomach churn.
Isn’t it about time, fellow Americans, that we outlawed the sale of these wide-blade, sickeningly long means of mayhem, replacing them in our kitchens with short, thin knives that could easily perform all the necessary culinary functions?
A stupid argument? I confess that it is, but not much stupider than the argument of a New York Times columnist arguing for an extension of a national assault-weapon ban due to expire on Sept. 13. “The bottom line,” he wrote, “is that Mr. Bush’s waffling on assault weapons will mean more dead Americans.” Here, in one sentence, is just about everything wrong with the arguments of gun-control enthusiasts, not to mention a certain brand of morally superior leftists.
The bottom line, in fact, is that doing what this columnist wants would almost certainly have exactly zero impact on gun deaths in this country. I would agree that except for its being politically deceptive and for getting in the way of people who employ the guns to blast away safely at inanimate targets, the ban poses no particular harm. The guns are not so useful as butcher knives. But neither is there any particular advantage. The ban was a fraud to begin with.
Assault weapons, you might think, are automatic, blam-blam-blam, machine-gun equivalents. Hold the trigger down and you can spray the room with lead, missing nothing. Nope. Assault weapons are semiautomatic. To fire the first shot, you have to pull the trigger. To fire the second shot, you have to pull the trigger. And the same with the third, fourth and on and on. In that respect, assault weapons are no different from many other kinds of guns — semiautomatic pistols, many hunting rifles, many shotguns — anymore than butcher knives are much different in their killing potential from many other kinds of knives.
What differentiates assault weapons from these other firearms is not what they do, as a number of commentators have now pointed out. It is how they look — namely, very mean, just as a butcher knife may look more frightening than the average steak knife. Even if extending the ban would somehow totally eliminate all those already in existence — it wouldn’t do any such thing — not much imagination would be required for the criminals who use them to switch to something else that works as well or better, as the vast majority of criminals already do.
The Times columnist — Nicholas Kristof — is particularly irksome and self-righteous in his insistence that President Bush will be responsible for killings if he does not press for an extension of the ban. Not only would this measure keep nary a soul alive, but it is somewhere between difficult and impossible to prove that any gun-control measure — there are hundreds in the land — has ever helped reduce crime. What’s effective are such things as putting criminals in prisons for a long time and improving police-department performance.
In short, you must aim at stopping the criminal behavior, not taking steps that mostly make people search out different means of accomplishing their evil ends. To paraphrase a point that liberals love to mock but that makes sense, it’s not butcher knives that kill people — it’s those who wield the knives.
Jay Ambrose is director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard Newspapers and can be reached at AmbroseJ@shns.com.
Don't go giving Sarah Brady any ideas...
The Bread-Knife Ballad
A little child was sitting Up on her mother's knee
And down down her cheeks the bitter tears did flow.
And as I sadly listened I heard this tender plea,
'Twas uttered in a voice so soft and low.
"Not guilty" said the Jury And the Judge said "Set her free,
But remember it must not occur again.
And next time you must listen to you little daughter's plea,"
Then all the Court did join in this refrain.
Chorus:
"Please Mother don't stab Father with the BREAD-KNIFE,
Remember 'twas a gift when you were wed.
But if you must stab Father with the BREAD-KNIFE,
Please Mother use another for the BREAD."
--- Robert Service
We need a five day "cooling-off" period before one can purchase a Ginsu knife. One should also be trained in Ginsu knife safety.
The Bowie knife pictured is against the law to carry in Texas. Kinda ironic isn't it.
Ban Afros.
The comment that triggered the assault was, "Nice Afro."
They'll take my knife when they pry , OW!!! Dammit don't grab it! It's SHARP!.
TS
(then again, assault rifles didn't kill anyone in NYS last year AFAIK.)
They already have them here.
Red
ban can openers!
Violent crimes are perpetrated every day in this country by assailants using weapons posing as harmless living or non-living things. It is a growing crisis in this country, unnoticed due to the press's bias toward the anti-gun lobby. The media should remember that ratings aren't the be-all and end-all of reporting. The public does have a right to know when they are in danger.
Criminals wield forks, knives, baseball bats (or anything serving as a bludgeoning device), car keys, automobiles, bricks, stones, spare change, bottles, cook ware, drink ware and sling-shots.They maim and kill with casts ( the kind used on broken bones ) and other assorted medical supplies. They attack with fists, feet, knees, heads, bodies (living or not) and large animals, ie: horses. They even use furniture to perpetuate their crimes.
In short, anything which moves, can be moved and/or picked up and/or manipulated in any way can be used as a deadly weapon. Even a plastic drinking cup, in the hand of a knowing user, is a deadly weapon.
I propose, therefore, that any and all potentially deadly weapons including the ones defined above, and those which may, by any stretch of the imagination, be defined in the above category, be immediately classified, confiscated and banned.
Any one knowingly in the possession of, or company of, any of the aforementioned deadly weapons should be immediately prosecuted to the full extent of the law, after such laws have been defined.
I represent a rapidly growing group called M.A.R.L., or Mothers Against Real Life. We have a protest march scheduled in Washington, D.C. in a couple of weeks. An official announcement and press release will be forthcoming as soon as we have all the details ironed out.
Any mother concerned about the growing threat of any of the prople or things we interact with every day is welcome to march to Washington with us. Any one interested may contact us at this web site.
In the meantime, join our letter campaign to Capitol Hill. Let your Congress Person know how you feel. Register to vote, and make your vote count. Remember, this is a national crisis: the fork you eat dinner with today could be the instrument of your murder tomorrow.
Hey, John Kerry led the fight to ban importation of decorative Samurai swords...need butcher knives banned? He's your person.
Prple" should be "people"...next time copy & paste. **sigh**
You may take our lives but you'll never take our BUTCHER KNIVES!
lol
We should definately ban that afro.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.