Posted on 12/24/2011 10:36:03 AM PST by yank in the UK
THREE men suffered slash wounds in a dawn street attack today.
The disturbance happened in Holmeside, in Sunderland city centre, at 4am, leaving two men with injuries to their arm and the third with facial injuries.
A 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man were arrested at the scene outside Cash in a Flash on suspicion of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. They remain in custody today.
I thought all sharp knives had been outlawed in the UK
It’s only illegal to have sharp knives outside of the kitchen
“I gave up my firearms, and all I got was this slash at Cash in a Flash.”
And if those people had been armed, and the attackers had reason to know or suspect this (”armed society”), they would’ve just been attacked from the rear. Do you shoot anyone who walks behind you? The bad guys can adapt to circumstances quicker than you can draw a gun. The problem is not a lack of guns, but scum who will attack you without notice or provocation.
Merry (and safe) Christmas!
Yes, but in an unarmed society the scum view everyone they see as a victim, in a polite society (armed) the thugs are a lot more cautious because anyone could be a formidable opponent. I don’t think it is a coincidence that England has a higher violent crime rate then the US and South Africa combined (according to UN stats)
Britain has always had a knife crime problem.
The famous Glasgow gangs of the 1930’s to today, East End London gangsters ‘tooled up’ with bayonets and flick knives from the 1920’s to the 70’s....
They happened when Britain had more guns. When police and courts and prison were more robust and brutal. When most men had served in the forces. When the UK was much less PC and wimpy than today. The unarmed argument is a red herring.
The historical use of knives as opposed to guns in the UK IS the result of Britain never having been a gun owning populace on the scale of the US.
A polite society is a polite society, an armed society is just armed. You see, I dare question the dictum that an armed society is without violent crime. That somehow gets it backwards, IMO.
If the UK violent crime rate is indeed higher than that of the US and S.A. *combined* (obviously not in absolute numbers), then perhaps the UK needs to go back and read Enoch Powell, and act accordingly. The underlying reason for all that crime is painfully (no pun intended) obvious, yet we all know that those in power have no intention at all in addressing it.
Violent crime is a part of any society, but in a homogeneous society it is always less so. Simple, obvious, but not part of the politically correct agenda of any western government.
THAT is the problem that really needs to be addressed. Guns or no guns is just so much window dressing. (And I like my guns as much as the next FReeper, for the record.)
This is what happens very frequently in an unarmed society.
It is 16 times more likely that someone will break into a home in England, knowing somebody is home, than in the USA. In the USA nun-chucks are legal. If that was my only choice Id carry them and Id be good with them. Instead, since Im an old fart, my minim carry piece is a .380 with (plastic) Glaser rounds. The Glaser has the same lethality as a full metal jacket .45ACP.
The UK rate has been explained here by myself and others before.
The ‘high rate’ is partly due to the fact of the reporting and collation of crime. There are TWENTY EIGHT different types of assault charge in the UK. Taking a ship out with a unwilling crew in unsafe/dangerous conditions is considered an assault against the crew. I am not kidding, its on the statute books. America?. FOUR different types.
Britain (pop 60m) has about 900 gun deaths a year.
America (pop 300m) has 30000, half of those homicide.
Even multiplied by 5, the UK gun murder rate would be 4500, still around a quarter of the US number.
Many American cities singularly have murder rates that are higher than the whole UK and Ireland combined.
For example, 3000 people died in NI and Britain during the IRA/Loyalist terrorist years 1969-1994. 3000 in 25 years. NY, Detroit, Chicago, Washington and Miami all had more murders than that EVERY YEAR!.
The figures for rape in the UK are quite a bit less than the US, and of course a million miles less than SA.
The idea that the UK is more dangerous than either the US or South Africa is ridiculous. To suggest its worse than both combined is insane. Yes, there has been a rise in British crime and the UK is less safe than 1960, 1970, 1980 or even 1990, but that rise has come from a very low level of crime.
It is not for nothing that the UK, be it England, Scotland, Wales and even (the terrorist-haunted) NI have been famous for decades until very recently for being safe countries with low levels of crime, violent and non violent, where the police didnt need to be armed, and even criminals usually didnt use violence....
I am a 41 yr old male, who has been the victim of crime twice in my adult life. Thats twice in 23 years, and one was theft and the other attempted burglary and assault.
I have lived in America, spent 99% of my life in the UK, and have family and friends who have lived in post apartheid SA. I KNOW that Britain, for all its rise in crime over the last 20 years, is still a far safer country to live in than either America or South Africa.
Wonderful post mate. Shame it will be largely ignored
“And if those people had been armed, and the attackers had reason to know or suspect this (armed society), they wouldve just been attacked from the rear. Do you shoot anyone who walks behind you? The bad guys can adapt to circumstances quicker than you can draw a gun. The problem is not a lack of guns, but scum who will attack you without notice or provocation.”.....
Unless he plans to kill me from behind (with his knife), I can still put several rounds in his ass as he is running away. I’ll take my Glock over any knife, every time.
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