A little off topic, but about knives! Honest!!!

[The General]

Paracelcus, please let this run a little.


I am not sure if all of us are aware of this... Yesterday a 10 year old black kid (he was an African born child to be exact) was stabbed in the leg and died. This happened in an inner city part of London. I want to wish all the family and friends all the best.

What is also tragic however, was that this child was slain (or so it appears) as a prank by other black children. There is and never was, it seems, any racist element in this murder. I am neither backing any group or saying anything political here. It just seems terrible how the level of crime seen in American cities is becoming a mirror over here. This is not an anti American statement either, just a shame society has got the way it has.

I would also like to note that the police have confirmed that they have found two 'weapons' at the location.

1. A small kitchen knife.
2. A sharp bit of glass, like a knife in size.

However sorry I feel for all involved, everytime a person is killed or harmed with a knife, it makes my heart skip a beat. I was expecting a media backlash about knives in society, but there is no story here (no murderous combat knives used).

I guess I just wanted to say also, that to kill it seems, is easy for some, lets all look out for each other and try to think twice about how we use a knife in public. Owning a knife is a privilage (in the UK), we do not want to see them all banned here or anywhere.

Respect

W.A.

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"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

 

[Old Knife Guy]

I don't know why, but in stories like this the media seem more interested in the weapon than the antagonist's motive. (Even in the forums we ask, "What kind of knife?") In fact, would this article have even caught your eye if the kid was beaten to death with a leg of lamb?--OKG

 

[Vampire Gerbil]

Elderly SharpEdged Metal Maleperson said:

would this article have even caught your eye if the kid was beaten to death with a leg of lamb?

The Great and Powerful ME replies:

YOU BETCHA!

As for banning knives.... that's okay, so long as they allow us to possess shards of glass!

Off to emlighten other masses, malignancies excluded)
I remain,
VG
KING OF ALL SHELLFISH (Except for clams... Anarchic li'l bastids!)

PS- Lorena don't like you anymore, The General. She's set her hooves on ParcelNeeds2Hide.

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[This message has been edited by Vampire Gerbil (edited 11-29-2000).]

 

[Razoredj]

The right to own a knife is not a favor generously granted by bureaucrats. Just because those with power choose to control their subjects does not make this control legitimate.

The right to own tools -- be they for self defense or mundane purposes -- is just that. For that matter, the right to try to defend yourself -- to try to survive -- is the only fundamental right with which humans are born. Denying people the tools of self-defense is an attempt to deny them the right to defend themselves. This is morally wrong no matter how you look at it. But go deeper, and I think most people will agree that attempting to prohibit people from owning tools that make their lives easier -- for that is what knives are -- is simply absurd, and does not in any way prevent crime.

I'd like to see just how many laws have to be passed forbidding the ownership of "knife-shaped shards of glass" before people realize that just about any frigging hard object can be melted, carved, whittled, or chipped into a stabbing implement.

Don't take this personally, General; I'm not flaming you. I'm just a little bit tired of hearing how I'm supposed to behave responsibly in public with a pocket knife because someone's been stabbed by a soulless punk with no regard for human life. Obviously you should behave responsibly with sharp objects; not stabbing people goes a long way towards this goal.

Thanks for giving me the chance to vent. Again, I'm not flaming -- just slightly irritable.

Razor

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AKTI #A000845
And tomorrow when you wake up it will be worse.

[This message has been edited by Razoredj (edited 11-29-2000).]

 

[Flinx]

Hey guys, did you notice that this parrallels a recent Tactical Knives editorial? In that the editor mentioned the fact that most knife-related murders the knife used is almost always the common kitchen knife. The reason being, they are in most homes, easy to get to, and are nice and long, long enough to reach vital areas. And yet if enough stuff like this makes national headlines, you know it will be a matter of time before they try to outlaw all pocketknives. Just like with guns, it will be a case of the government trying to fix the symptom, not the actual problem.

Flinx

 

[bigbore.45]

Originally posted by Flinx:
Just like with guns, it will be a case of the government trying to fix the symptom, not the actual problem.

Flinx[/B]

Sorry i have to disagree.
Dont know much about YOUR gov, but mine is not stupid enough, to try this.
They know exactly what they have to do:

Try to look important!
Try to seem, you know what your talking about!
Try to look like you have the answer to all problems !
......
......
......
Try to get much votes next time! BECAUSE ::


MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!MONEY!





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*Da Gschwinda is da Gsünda*

 

[Old Knife Guy]

To Vampire Gerbil: Prozac only works when it's ingested, quit rubbing it on your tibia. However, I do agree with you that the shock value of the story probably is what sold the newspaper, and we're all guilty of allowing that to happen by our patronage.
To Flinx: Yes, I read the article in Tactical Knives. The editor made a valid point. Had the weapon been a high-end custom knife, it would have been the lead story with a banner headline. I don't know how to remedy the human condition. For example, when Bat Masterson was 'retired' from law enforcement, he wrote a sports column for a paper back east. He still had his original SAA .45 Colt. Some collector gave him lots of money for the gun because it was a 'killer.' Colt records show that Bat then bought FIVE MORE COLTS, and hawked them for profit! It seems this is not a new problem.--OKG

 

[anthony cheeseboro]

This posts brings up several interesting points. First, it shows that in a violent environment, any object like a kitchen knife or even a piece of glass can be used as a weapon. Anybody who thinks thinks that they can control crime simply by banning knives or just jailing people is mistaken. I heard about this story on the BBC last night and a Afro-British social worker made the point that the neighborhood had originally been a housing project but that the project had been replaced by individual dwellings. She argued that this change facilitated the disintegration of traditional extended family structures among the African immigrants. Obviously this explanantion is insufficient to explain a murder. Not all bored or unsupervised kids react with violence, but it does suggest the complexity of dealing with Third World Immigrants who move in search of opportunities only to find themselves at the bottom of the ladder and losing the values that they once had. The point I'm tryin to make is a knee jerk reaction like banning knives will completely miss the point.