Tyranny in Briton

Subject: Tyranny in Briton Thu Dec 17, 2009 12:11 pm

This is insane. A sign of what some people would like to see in this country.

Tyrants don't like an armed populace. The extent tyrannies will go to make sure citizens are disarmed can boggle the mind.

Take England. Please.

In Great Britain, private gun ownership is now illegal. This is not just a policy of trying to reduce concealed carrying of firearms -- it's a complete and utter prohibition, with no leniency.

Consider the recent case of 27-year-old Paul Clarke, a former soldier. He spied a garbage bag in the wrong place, went to look, and found a shotgun with ammo inside. He new guns were illegal, so he made an appointment with the local Chief Superintendent, and took it to the police station in the morning.

He was then arrested and imprisoned for possessing a firearm. He didn't know that the law was so stringent as to make even touching a firearm, with the intention of giving it to the police, a no-no. But he was prosecuted and convicted for doing just that. By the time you hear/read this, he'll have been sentenced. I'm hoping the judge is lenient. The five years minimum, which is how the law reads, is idiotic in the extreme.

The law is more than just dumb, it's tyrannical. There's no excuse for such nonsense.

Free Paul Clarke! And weep for Britain, where some say liberty was born. Liberty sure seems dead there now -- as is common sense.

Subject: Re: Tyranny in Briton Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:43 am

A little more on the idiocy going on in Britain

Did you know that a person's chances of being mugged in London are six times higher than in New York City? . . .
In England, the penalty for possessing a handgun is 10 years in prison. The result is the one predicted by the National Rifle Association: "when guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns." During the two years following the 1997 handgun ban, the use of handguns in crime rose by 40 percent. During seven months of 2001, armed robberies in London rose by 53 percent. . . .

The British government forbids citizens to carry any article that might be used for self-defense. Even knitting needles and walking sticks have been judged to be "offensive weapons." In 1994, an English homeowner used a toy gun to detain two burglars who had broken into his home. The police arrested the homeowner for using an imitation gun to threaten and intimidate. . . .

In the British welfare state, crimes against property are not taken seriously. A person who uses force to defend himself or his property is in serious trouble with the law. A recent British law textbook says that the right to self-defense is so mitigated "as to cast doubt on whether it still forms part of the law."

In October 2001, Issues & Views reported on England's Tony Martin, the unfortunate Norfolk farmer who fell afoul of the new, two-tier version of English law when, in 1999, he shot at burglars invading his home, injuring one and killing another. Martin, tried for murder, was sentenced to life in prison--plus added time (if that's possible) for the temerity of owning a shotgun.