Echoes of 'Fahrenheit 451' Haunt England

http://www.newsmax.com ^ | Aug. 4, 2002 | Dr. Michael S. Brown

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Echoes of 'Fahrenheit 451' Haunt England

Dr. Michael S. Brown

Aug. 4, 2002

"Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury's famous novel of a totalitarian future where books are burned is being acted out in England. But instead of destroying books, authorities seek out and destroy guns owned by citizens in defiance of the national ban.

Those who remember Bradbury's book know the way that subtle alterations of terminology and a slow erosion of common sense can pervert an entire society to the point that it destroys itself in the quest for perfection. In this case, the perfection they seek is a society without violence, but like all utopian experiments this one, too, is doomed to failure.

A chilling article appeared recently in the Sun describing how several ordinary, middle-class men were arrested for keeping guns hidden in their homes in defiance of the ban. The article was loaded with propaganda terms reminiscent of Bradbury's imagination. Two retired teachers were called "gun-mad," "gun obsessives," and "gun nuts." Other arrestees were an engineer and fireman. The caption under one man's smiling photo labeled him a "monster." It is tempting to conclude that the article was a parody even though it seemed deadly serious.

It is fascinating to read the growing flood of news reports in the British press about the exploding rate of violent crime in the UK, especially gun crime. Many stories about gun crimes mention the harsh gun laws enacted after the "Dunblane Massacre" in 1996. The reporters seem perplexed at the failure of these laws to reduce crime, but never seem to make the connection that would occur to most Americans.

Scholars Joseph Olsen and David Kopel pointed out a few years ago the uncanny relationship between the enactment of English gun laws and subsequent increases in crime. Even a small child could look at the 100-year graph showing the crime rate vs. gun laws and see the tragic conclusion.

A new book by respected history professor Joyce Lee Malcom explains how twin attacks on gun rights and self-defense rights have made England into the most crime-ridden country in the developed world.

The strictest gun laws on the planet have effectively disarmed law-abiding citizens, allowing criminals to run amok with illegally owned guns, knives and even fake guns. Instead of a gun-free society, they have created a situation where guns are more useful and valuable to criminals than ever before. A thriving black market imports guns from Eastern Europe and distributes makeshift guns produced by local craftsmen out to make a quick pound.

'In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man Is King'

Criminals are now certain that citizens have no effective means to resist an armed attack. The gun-armed criminal is thus a king free to rape and plunder at will.

At least Britain deserves credit for thoroughness. In contrast with American practice, where the rich and famous are effectively exempt from gun laws, English gun controls are so tight that even celebrities are unarmed, leading to many reports of celebrity mansion burglaries and street assaults.

Attempts to counter this avalanche of crime with more police are hampered by limited budgets and a liberal criminal justice system. Thousands of video surveillance cameras have sprouted everywhere, reducing privacy but failing to provide the desired protection.

Laws against self-defense have sent to jail Englishmen who would have been hailed as crime-fighting heroes in America. Years of expenditures and sacrifice have simply created the world's safest working conditions for criminals.

Instead of repealing the counterproductive laws, English politicians prefer to pile on more laws outlawing knives, air guns and toys. Their utter faith in government and their complete ignorance of human nature is stunning.

Americans have good reason to point at our English cousins and laugh as they laughed at us during the era of alcohol prohibition, but I suggest we thank them for conducting one of the great social experiments of our time. By showing the counterproductive nature of gun control, they are teaching us a powerful lesson. We can only hope they see the light before their society is too badly damaged.

Dr. Michael S. Brown is an optometrist and member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws, www.dsgl.org. E-mail the author at rkba2000@yahoo.com.

References

"Gun-Mad Teachers Arrested"
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2002260304,00.html

"All the Way Down the Slippery Slope"
Joseph E. Olson and David B. Kopel
http://www.guncite.com/journals/okslip.html

"Guns and Violence, The English Experience"
Joyce Lee Malcom, Harvard University Press
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/MALGUN.html

Gun crime stories from the UK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1741336.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/england/1765622.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2168430.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2001/life_of_crime/police.stm

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Guns/Gun Control

A Product That Might Interest You:
See NewsMax's special offer for "The Seven Myths of Gun Control."

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

How the British maximize crime Just another tidbit of reality

[riverrunner]

Bump. It is hard to laugh when the result is so sad, but the British government and the idiots in there press are rather funny.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

Bumperoo...

[hedgetrimmer]

I just saw the movie 'Fahrenheit 451' recently. I was appalled at how the city that Montag lived in, looked like a city under the stranglehold of Agenda 21. The people in the city only had public transportation (monorails) and bicycles to get around-- a key feature of our local agenda 21 plan. The roads were car-less. The land without buildings on it (where the monorail passed over) was weedy and unkempt, another key to agenda 21 to maintain a 'natural' environment. The neighborhood where Montag lived was cookie cutter, no individuality, gardens or flowers. Just like the soviet planners would provide to the good members of the politburo. The not so good members of society were forced to live in high-rise cement cell blocks. Agenda 21 is forcing densification in neighborhoods with densification bonuses, and the only housing that is getting approved to be built locally is pretty much medium to high density. On the railroad tracks. Because they plan that no one will have cars and will need to live in "transportation villages" so they can continue their lives as wage slaves.

In fact the movie scared me, because it looked like what they are trying to make Santa Cruz County, California, become.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Ive seen it to and frankly your right it is agenda 21 and is made way before the agenda 21 harrasy is even thought of i beleive

.....Was Andy Worhal right does life imitate art ? /sarcasm /

In any case its scary

[hedgetrimmer]

Agenda 21 is simply the sovietization of the planet. Mr. Bradbury only documented what the soviet vision for society was like in his time, and it remains the same now, though given a different name.

Do you have local Agenda 21 in your community? Smart growth? They are planning a huge transportation village project in South San Franciso right now and will condemn land via eminent domain to clear out the old neighborhood.

[Jack Black]

Yes, they are turning Santa Cruz and Portland Oregon into little tests. Of course Kali they are well down the road to complete citizen disarmament, and you have the Mexican invasion, so it's worse. I finally had a enough and moved from SC to PDX, but it's only a lesser version of socialist takeover.

[hedgetrimmer]

"collaboratively a diverse coalition" is a soviet-style council.

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[proudofthesouth]

I saw this movie when I was 9 or 10 years old and I've never forgotten it. I must remember to get the book the next time I'm at the bookstore. I want to save it for my (possible) future grandchild.

[hedgetrimmer]

I had seen it too, a long time ago, but the impact of seeing it today, and seeing how prescient it was, was a shock.

[Darksheare]

You mean, they didn't learn from Pro-Nazi Germany that gun control was a bad idea? That taking guns away from the populace makes it easier for criminals and tyrants to flourish?

[BlazingArizona]

The legal situation in Britain is even worse than the article suggests. Self-defense with any weapon is illegal, even if the victim uses an ordinary object in self defense. If a victim defends himself using a flashlight, cricket bat or nail file as a weapon, he will typically get a longer sentence than the perpetrator.

[Tony in Hawaii]

These days, I'm glad my British-born father never lived to see the depths his birthplace has sunk to.

What if the Germans invaded today?

[sushiman]

Now more than ever we see how much we owe those Valley Forge boys from getting us out from this den of iniquity and bad karma otherwise known as " Old Blighty " .

[metalurgist]

What if the Germans invaded today?

They would be hailed as liberators perhaps?

[Redcloak]

Just for reference, they aren't exagerating about that Sun article...

---

Gun-mad teachers jailed

Arsenal of evil ... some of the guns and ammunition found at homes of the teachers

By JOHN ASKILLTWO gun-mad teachers were behind bars last night after hiding a sickening arsenal of weapons at their homes.

The obsessed pair had hoarded their lethal collections despite a nationwide ban after the Dunblane massacre six years ago.

Cops found THIRTEEN handguns at the home of primary school teacher Thomas Hosty, 53. He also had two CS gas canisters, a stun gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Thomas Hosty ... 13 guns hidden in house

Ex-secondary school master Borys Dmytrenko, 49, kept two loaded handguns by his bed.

Hosty was jailed for 12 months and Dymtrenko for six at Derby Crown Court after admitting possessing illegal firearms and ammunition.

They were trapped in a massive police operation designed to halt the rocketing supply of guns to Britain’s crime gangs.

Instead police found a network of middle-class gun nuts who had refused to hand in weapons after Dunblane — when madman Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher — and the Hungerford horror of 1987.

Borys Dmytrenko ... sentenced to six months

Many of the guns had been converted, some had their appearance changed and some had serial numbers shaved off.

They included a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver and a double-barrelled .22 Derringer pistol.

Hosty had kept one of the handguns fully loaded in a bedside cabinet at his home in Shaw, Greater Manchester.

He and retired teacher Dmytrenko, of Oldham, Greater Manchester, were members of the Diggle gun club in Oldham.

Last night a police source said: “We were shocked that two teachers, one at a primary school, should be involved given the horrors of Dunblane.

Hamilton ... monster

“But what is more shocking is that this appears to be the tip of the iceberg. We are finding weapons turning up all over the place as a result of this investigation.

“Previously intelligence has suggested weapons coming in from Eastern Europe. But many of the handguns used in gangland killings and murders across the UK have originally come from sources like this within this country.

“We are sure that a great many firearms are still being held illegally by gun obsessives such as these and that is obviously a danger to the public.”

He added: “Hosty said he had guns to protect his family because there had been a rise in crime in his area.

“But there had been no more than a handful of crimes in the past two years.”

Four other men appeared in court on firearms charges. Fireman Howard Foster, 42, of Halifax, West Yorks, got a six-month suspended sentence. Engineer James Whitehead, 64, of Shaw — who police said converted many of the guns — will be sentenced later.

Anton Ramsden 60, of Shaw, and John Hoarden 51, of Macclesfield, Cheshire, were given community service orders.

---

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...though there is one item that ought to be clarified. The individual labeled as a "monster" is the Dunblane shooter. However, the rest of the "gun mad", "gun nut" hyperbole is there.

[THX 1138]

Their utter faith in government and their complete ignorance of human nature is stunning.

The most important sentence in the entire piece.

I also remember "Fahrenheit 451". Remember the beginning? The opening credits were spoken by a narrator, rather than having rolling titles. I don't believe that had ever been done before or since.

[Ancesthntr]

Until very recently, I had a great desire to visit England to see our cultural and political roots. However, I think that I will go to Valley Forge and Lexington Green instead. The Limeys have really lost it. They've been totally taken in by the anti-gun, big-government-will-protect-you (or else) crowd, and they are suffering because of it. I'll not visit England until the government restores people's rights and crime goes down a whole bunch.