Quote: Briosaid @ 5th April 2018, 10:10 PMGawn yersel, Dave. Have to say the USA is the last place I'd visit - well, maybe not Chad or Syria.
I lived in America for nearly three years. Worst time of my life. I'd take it over a third world country and maybe Russia and that's it.
Quote: DaButt @ 6th April 2018, 5:22 AMAn arrest would be almost impossible, but fines make sense if some moron decides to jump out in the middle of traffic, against all common sense.
It's a stupid law and it'll be gone immediately if/when we ever bring back the military draft. It wasn't always 21 - I was drinking legally at 18 in the 1980s. Anti-drinking groups persuaded the government that it would save lives and the nascent nanny state decided that they needed to "do something" to save lives. Sort of like the modern anti-gun measures, really.
As it should be.
If I recall correctly, that was one man who was waging a 20-year battle with the city and refusing to maintain his jungle of a yard. If your neighbor decided to raise a herd of elephants in his back garden and you and your neighbors complained about the rivers of shit that flowed down the street until he was finally arrested, I could claim that he was arrested for being an animal lover. But would that really be accurate?
No, bad cops are routinely imprisoned. Have I mentioned that we have the largest prison population on the planet? That's what we do with criminals: we remove them from society.
Want to talk about ridiculous laws? How about the fact that the knife I carry in my pocket every day would land me in prison if I were to carry it in the UK? Puny little 3.5" locking blade that I used today to open a package, cut some plastic line for my string trimmer, and open a bag of lawn fertilizer, but the UK has banned it in order to "do something" about knife crime. The last I heard you were still having a few problems...
Here's the silly little knife that I carry. Almost every American man (and Boy Scout) carries something similar. Scary, isn't it?
And I'm glad that I don't live in the UK where the police will haul an elderly man in on a murder charge after two armed men broke into his house in the middle of the night.
1. Jumping out? I'm just talking about using your own judgement when to cross a non-motorway and crossing when you know it's safe where there's no lights. I was fined in Seattle for it.
2. Why does the draft have to come back so adults can drink at 18?
3. You're honestly fine with the "employ at will". You can be sacked with no reason. I bet you'd soon be moaning if it happened to you. People losing their security with no rights. No wonder homelessness is piling up over there.
4. I'm talking about the Tennessee woman who worked and had a family and kids and was arrested simply for not mowing her lawn in 2014.
5. Bad cops are routinely imprisoned? Tell that to all the innocent dead people's families. The only reason your prisons are so full is because people do long jail time for the most minor offences. Depending on their race of course. And that still hasn't won the "war on drugs".
6. Not sure what the connection is between banning a sweet and a knife but okay.
7. I hope you was as passionate about the 90 year old world war two veteran who was arrested and fined twice in Florida for feeding the homeless as you seem to about this old man in the UK.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM1. Jumping out? I'm just talking about using your own judgement when to cross a non-motorway and crossing when you know it's safe where there's no lights.
The law says that you must cross at marked crosswalks. You broke the law.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM2. Why does the draft have to come back so adults can drink at 18?
I didn't say that the draft had to come back for the age to be lowered. I said that it would be lowered if the draft is reinstated.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM3. You're honestly fine with the "employ at will". You can be sacked with no reason. I bet you'd soon be moaning if it happened to you.
It's happened to me, I was laid off after more than 13 years of stellar performance with my previous company. That's the way things go sometimes.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM4. I'm talking about the Tennessee woman who worked and had a family and kids and was arrested simply for not mowing her lawn in 2014.
She was arrested for violating a city ordinance. She had ample opportunity and time to comply, but she refused. It looks like she spent a whopping 6 hours behind bars for her insubordination.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM5. Bad cops are routinely imprisoned?
Yes, they are.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PMThe only reason your prisons are so full is because people do long jail time for the most minor offences.
Absolutely incorrect.
The UK has a total of about 95,000 people behind bars. The U.S. has twice that many people behind bars for murder alone. We have a million people behind bars for violent crimes. Only a third of our prison population is there for drug charges, and the overwhelming majority of them are there because they're repeat offenders with lengthy arrest records.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM6. Not sure what the connection is between banning a sweet and a knife but okay.
You think it's stupid to ban a sweet. I think it's stupid to ban a useful pocket tool because some people use them to hurt others.
Quote: Statesman Dave @ 6th April 2018, 8:48 PM7. I hope you was as passionate about the 90 year old world war two veteran who was arrested and fined twice in Florida for feeding the homeless as you seem to about this old man in the UK.
The man in Florida was knowingly and intentionally breaking a law. The man in the UK was the victim of a violent home invasion and was arrested on suspicion of murder for exercising that most basic of human rights: self-protection.
Alternative knives are permitted, the flick knife is banned because it was so often used as an offensive weapon.
I personally always carry a "swiss -army-knife" as a handy tool. It has lots more useful facilities than a simple flick knife. Normally the fact that I have it with me is never questioned, but it was once confiscated for the duration of a flight that I had on an American airline from Miami to Belize.
Quote: billwill @ 7th April 2018, 2:42 AMAlternative knives are permitted, the flick knife is banned because it was so often used as an offensive weapon.
What is considered a flick knife? A switchblade? Or just any knife with a locking blade?
Quote: billwill @ 7th April 2018, 2:42 AMI personally always carry a "swiss -army-knife" as a handy tool.
I have one of these, but I don't carry it that often. Usually a sharp knife blade is all that I need.
Quote: billwill @ 7th April 2018, 2:42 AMNormally the fact that I have it with me is never questioned, but it was once confiscated for the duration of a flight that I had on an American airline from Miami to Belize.
Post 9/11 you won't even get it back, thanks to bin Laden's guys and their box cutters.
I see that the pensioner who stabbed the burglar has been told that he won't face any charges. The cops look rather bad for going from GBH to murder to no charge.
The death of the burglar had to be investigated, not merely shrugged off by the first visiting police. Just in case it was a situation where the person killed had been lured into the house & then stabbed. The householder was out on bail pretty rapidly and may have welcomed a night away from his house.
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A flick knife is usually spring loaded so that it flicks out of the folded position to a using position on pressing a catch. Apart from that there are also UK restrictions on the length of the blade. You have to have a valid reason not self defence for carrying a 'long' blade in public. So for instance when David Bussell borrowed my Excalibur sword replica as a photo prop, he came on an evening when he was going to fencing practice and so had his entire sport-fencing gear with him in a long bag. Not strictly necessary, but would have dramatically shortened any question-time had he been stopped.
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Here is a government page on knife laws. https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives
It looks like my description of the banned flick knife is out of date, it now seems to be locking blades that are banned. All rather daft restrictions as there is little different if the nature of ordinary 'pen-knives' and locking blades as a penknife that didn't stay in position would be rather useless for anything.
Quote: billwill @ 7th April 2018, 5:54 PMThe death of the burglar had to be investigated, not merely shrugged off by the first visiting police. Just in case it was a situation where the person killed had been lured into the house & then stabbed. The householder was out on bail pretty rapidly and may have welcomed a night away from his house.
Of course it had to be investigated, even though I'm sure that the immediately available evidence on hand (blood inside the house, possible signs of forced entry, and the criminal histories of everyone involved) pointed to a case of reasonable self-defense. The problem was how the cops handled the aftermath. Removing an elderly man from his home and disabled wife was pushing the limits, especially if he was carted off in handcuffs. And then increasing the potential charge from GBH to murder was ridiculous. For what it's worth, I doubt many people have ever welcomed a night away from home that involved handcuffs, intense detective questioning behind bars, and the threats of a murder charge.
Quote: billwill @ 7th April 2018, 5:54 PMIt looks like my description of the banned flick knife is out of date, it now seems to be locking blades that are banned. All rather daft restrictions as there is little different if the nature of ordinary 'pen-knives' and locking blades as a penknife that didn't stay in position would be rather useless for anything.
It just seems to be another case of inconveniencing law-abiding people in the vain hope of causing criminals to change their ways. I've seen photos of some of the knives used in UK attacks and they were often large kitchen knives, not the handy pocket tools that "regular" people carry.
None of the reports that I've seen mention handcuffs.
The house was full of detectives judging by the pictures, so it would be better to be away, however, strangely, the reports do not mention how the disabled/dementia wife was looked after. The real facts seem somewhat thin and I suspect that 'creative reporting' has been used to sell more newspapers.
There's a HUGE amount of fake news, Bill.
I know as I have been in on the inside of many situations that have been falsely reported by the so called 'quality press' and the same is true of broadcast news.
It's so sad that the general public has to put up with it, but reporters need stories.. that's what they're are paid for
and get bonuses and promotions for and they have families and mortgages to pay, etc. so you can see why it is the way it is.
They are plenty of good reasons to carry a knife, Mayor. Demonizing and banning an object won't do much good if you can't tackle the root cause: bad people. If you can't scare, rehabilitate or jail the bad people, then you can look forward to knife crime task forces, acid crime task forces, hammer crime task forces, poison crime task forces, etc.
And of course your method works so well in the US as regards gun crime.
Quote: Briosaid @ 9th April 2018, 6:27 PMAnd of course your method works so well in the US as regards gun crime.
That's precisely the point that I've been trying to make all along: politicians passing more and more laws to ban pieces of metal and plastic does nothing to solve the problem. The guns and knives aren't the problem, the people who use them to commit crimes are the problem. The vast majority of UK citizens can be trusted to walk around with a pocketknife, but due to the actions of a few hardcore criminals you will now find yourself behind bars for carrying a simple knife with a locking blade. The same goes for guns in the United States: the criminals ignore the law, while the rest of us watch as our rights are taken from us, piece by piece.
Frankly if I felt I needed the 'right' to carry a blade, I'd be asking my GP to refer me for psychiatric help.
Quote: DaButt @ 9th April 2018, 2:26 PMThey are plenty of good reasons to carry a knife, Mayor.
.
Not in England there aren't. There is NO good reason. I've been at the end of a blade painted black so that it doesn't shine in the dark.
It's the proliferation of guns in the USA that makes them think they have to go around armed to protect themselves.It's a vicious circle.
