We Americans Have It So Good

[dihappy]

I just cant believe some of the things in this video. Its incredible to think of some of the things our poor, unfortunate neighbors over in England have been subjected to :(

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=757_1212418336

[longtooth]

They & the Aussies MUST be our warning.

[old farmer]

Morn'
I sent the video link to all my antigun family members. This may help these poor misled family members.

[Excaliber]

I remember reading somewhere that now the government in England wants to ban points on kitchen knives, since knife crime has gone up.

You may have seen this in America's First Freedom (August 2008 issue, page 13). It's also appeared in various media reports.

Apparently the UK government types who proposed the law don't figure that any of their criminals are smart enough to convert a blunt pointed "good knife" into an "assault knife" with a file or grinder. They're also apparently unaware of the ease with which even incarcerated felons turn everyday objects like pens and toothbrushes into shivs they routinely use for fatal attacks.

They're already certifiably real slow learners after seeing that their gun ban resulted in a 40% increase in violent crime and leaving it in place. Their people are unusually understanding as well, because they seem to tolerate a situation where their unarmed police won't respond to a report of an armed crime until they're really sure the bad guys are gone. (It's a bit hard to fault them for that).

The Brits still can't figure out that what they want to cure is a criminal problem, not an object control problem. Instead of considering that the fix might lie in addressing governmental stupidity, a passive citizenry, and bad laws, they're now casting about for another chunk of material to criminalize. Watch for knitting needles, golf clubs and baseball bats next. Of course, if the real goal is to bring the population under tighter and tighter control, it wouldn't be a bad strategy at all, but that's probably just coincidence.

If ignorance is bliss, these folks must be bordering on ecstasy.

They also give special meaning to the saying, "Some people's primary function in life is to serve as a warning to others," with others being us. What we see there is what we'll see here in a few years if we don't jealously guard our freedoms and aggressively defend them from attack.

[BigDan]

I'm glad our neighbors across the pond are finally waking up. My signature says it all in this case. ;-]

[Excaliber]

I love traveling, and would love to visit London, but the fact that they keep pushing object control instead of criminal control makes me not want to spend money there.

Go if you have the opportunity. The money spent will be worth it in knowledge gained.

London is a fascinating place to visit. Like much of Europe, it is steeped in very old history. You would enjoy the sights and the people who are very friendly but strikingly timid politically. I'm very glad I had a couple of opportunities to visit, but I would never want to live there.

If you go you'll pick up some unforgettable impressions that will always stay with you when you think about the freedoms we have here, and when you view the efforts of the folks in our country who are working hard to abolish them. Pay attention to the tens of thousands of cameras everywhere, and read the everyday crime posts in the papers of a country that is touted here as a blissful utopia by anti RKBA groups. Ask the working people about what they think of their police, upon whom they are wholly dependent because they are not allowed to do use weapons against an attacker even during a home invasion.

The UK is at something of a midpoint between where we are today, and where the folks in Zimbabwe are at. It provides a lot of food for thought, and helps one understand how a once relatively free country can slide toward tyranny by a series of seemingly small erosions of freedom, each of which is sold to a gullible and timid populace as "reasonable" and "necessary for safety" by its proponents. Freedom in the UK wasn't taken from that country's citizens by an invading army - it was given away bit by bit.

The proposed law outlawing pointed knives seems stunningly idiotic to us here. It should be sobering to realize that in the UK it is being seriously put forth as the next reasonable step. If history is any precedent, the populace will accept it (not really believing it will help a thing) and it will become law with the same positive effect on crime as all the other prohibitions on objects (none) and the same negative effect on what little freedom remains (further diminishment).

The state of the UK today is an unforgettable reminder that Ben Franklin was right when he said that those who would trade an essential liberty for safety deserve neither. If we allow the same thing to happen here, we won't be able to say "how could we have known?" after we've watched it happen in a closely allied country whose former legal structure provided the initial framework for our own.

[Excaliber]

"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded, controlled, supervised, and taken care of." - Fr. TX Rep. Suzanna Hupp
!حان أن أحصل على بعض

I couldn't agree with Ms. Huff (who I hold in very high esteem) more. However, I'd make a couple of observations on two of her succinctly worded points:

1. The "taken care of" part is not really in the plan, since measures to actually achieve that are never implemented. It's just the structure of the illusion. "Gun Free Zones" are a great example.

2. The measures put in place to lord over, control, and supervise the unruly crowd just happen to always benefit those who do the lording, controlling, and supervising.

[BigDan]

Taken care of from their point of view, not ours. They feel they can take care of all our problems and that we don't need protection because the police will take care of it. They can't be more wrong.

[Venus Pax]

We would be wise to learn a lesson from all this.

We do have rights, but they aren't guaranteed or automatic. We have to constantly maintain efforts to keep them in place.

[NcongruNt]

We would be wise to learn a lesson from all this.

We do have rights, but they aren't guaranteed or automatic. We have to constantly maintain efforts to keep them in place.

I am reminded of this quote:

"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
-John Philpot Curran

This is the root quotation from which the often-quoted "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty" is derived, usually accredited to Thomas Jefferson. The original, to me, has a much stronger message, especially in the context of this thread.

[Skiprr]

Taken care of from their point of view, not ours. They feel they can take care of all our problems and that we don't need protection because the police will take care of it. They can't be more wrong.

Nice sig line, BigDan. Seems somehow familiar...

GMTA

[BigDan]

LOL. Didn't know anyone else was using it. =-D

[DoubleJ]

I remember reading somewhere that now the government in England wants to ban points on kitchen knives, since knife crime has gone up.

"When someone picks up a kitchen knife, they are going to use the edge, not the point. There is no need to have a point on the knife"

How're you gonna get all that peanut butter or mayonaise at the bottom of the jar??? that's the goooood stuff.