UK knife story that'll make you laugh - or puke

[mnblade]

I can't get over the freaking hysteria our friends in the UK have over knives. Read this!

Hard to believe England was the home of George Orwell, eh?

 

[Holierthanthou]

Where does that kind of thinking come from, do you think? Where is it leading?

 

[Franciscomv]

Suddenly "V for Vendetta" doesn't seem that crazy...

I showed that newspaper article to my father and he thought it was a joke. He couldn't believe they were really freaking out that much or that they called that bayonet a hunting knife...

 

[puukkoman]

Another horrifying knife was found at a house police were searching in Fowler Road, Radford.

That would be funny if it weren't so sad. I'm glad I don't live there.
I wonder what course of events brought them to this point... where, for some reason, nobody can view a knife as a legitimate tool.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

"Terror weapons taken off Coventry's streets"

Terror weapons. In World War II, Coventry of all places knew what terror weapons really were.

It may be true the police have time for paperwork and school visits, but not crime control.

 

[Casares]

Yes, there is hysteria about knives here in the UK, but it is localised....

Teenage boys unfortunately do kill each other, with increasing regularity, using kitchen knives, sharpened screwdrivers or anything they can get hold of. This is happening in the inner city areas like Coventry and Glasgow.

The police just want to stop young boys from carrying weapons... they have no other reason to carry knives than to defend themselves from rival gangs.

There is no tradition of carrying knives except in the country or on farms, where they are obviously seen as tools. British society is increasingly being dominated by a very childish view of the world, where everything is dangerous and threats are all around you..... this is the sort of paranoia being encouraged by the goverment, because it keeps people afraid and easier to govern. It allows the government to do what they like, take away our rights bit by bit...until we have no rights at all. This is why governments find terrorism a very useful pehonomenon; it keeps people frightened, which makes it easy to erode their traditional rights, like trial by jury, the right to travel anywhere without having our identity checked all the time, etc.

Does this sound familiar? it ought to.

 

[ocelot777]

Just more of the same I'm afraid. Still, at least nobody gets locked up without a proper trial . . . oh, hang on, yes they do

 

[ocelot777]

Casares -- I agree completely with your (unfortunately) accurate analysis. Bah!

 

[Esav Benyamin]

It sounds familiar.

The difference being, many people carry knives all their lives without looking for trouble. Forbidden fruit is always sweet. And teenage boys with knives aren't blowing up planes and trains.

When the possibility of a one-on-one attack becomes characterized as "terror", then the word has lost all meaning.

 

[DGG]

I can't exactly make out what kind of knife that is. It looks like a regular SAK folder of some sort. Blade can't be much more than 3".

Does anyone recognize it.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

The police just want to stop young boys from carrying weapons... they have no other reason to carry knives than to defend themselves from rival gangs.

What about teenage boys who have nothing to do with gangs, rival or otherwise? Do they too need a reason to be allowed to carry sharp, pointy objects?

Just as freedom of speech means nothing if it is only freedom to say the acceptable, the common wisdom, the cliche, so too can true freedom itself be bounded only by respect for other people's freedom. -- Swing your fist where you please, but not into my nose.

Punish the crime, not the means of its potential commission.

 

[madcap_magician]

What about teenage boys who have nothing to do with gangs, rival or otherwise? Do they too need a reason to be allowed to carry sharp, pointy objects?

Just as freedom of speech means nothing if it is only freedom to say the acceptable, the common wisdom, the cliche, so too can true freedom itself be bounded only by respect for other people's freedom. -- Swing your fist where you please, but not into my nose.

Punish the crime, not the means of its potential commission.

I like how they acknowledge that punks are running around with sharpened screwdrivers, yet fail to comprehend that this level of weapons improvisation indicates that making knives less available will have little effect.

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Exactly. And if metal detectors pop up in the schools to weed out the screwdriverrs, they'll start carrying sharpened popsicle sticks.

DGG, they mention that knife in the article. It's a cigaret lighter with a blade hidden in it.

 

[Blop]

Can´t believe it too.

There is a difference between the knife and would ppl. plan to do with it.

It is ok, to teach about the consequences of using a knife as a weapon. And i think most will agree, that if you know what you can do with a knife (or what can be done to you with it) you get a certain respect of the thing.

It is just a few years ago, that a young woman was stabbed to death around here with a simple kitchen knife. Would the nice news paper call the kitchen knife "horrifying" too? Guess not, but the deed was horrifying.

Old chancelor Helmut Kohl from Germany and his ministers were and surely are, carrying pocket knives, because the old boss said, a "real german man" always has a knife in his pockets.

I am not friendly with the man politically but am glad for the reputation this means, even though carrying knives is not regular here.

@Casares,

i guess the story about the "Two drovers" by Walter Scott has taken it´s part in the non - tradition.

 

[fudo]

Yes, there is hysteria about knives here in the UK, but it is localised....

Teenage boys unfortunately do kill each other, with increasing regularity, using kitchen knives, sharpened screwdrivers or anything they can get hold of. This is happening in the inner city areas like Coventry and Glasgow.

The police just want to stop young boys from carrying weapons... they have no other reason to carry knives than to defend themselves from rival gangs.

There is no tradition of carrying knives except in the country or on farms, where they are obviously seen as tools. British society is increasingly being dominated by a very childish view of the world, where everything is dangerous and threats are all around you..... this is the sort of paranoia being encouraged by the goverment, because it keeps people afraid and easier to govern. It allows the government to do what they like, take away our rights bit by bit...until we have no rights at all. This is why governments find terrorism a very useful pehonomenon; it keeps people frightened, which makes it easy to erode their traditional rights, like trial by jury, the right to travel anywhere without having our identity checked all the time, etc.

Does this sound familiar? it ought to.

Be afraid, be very afraid...OF THE FREAKIN' GOVERNMENT.:thumbdn:

 

[cockroachfarm]

Notice that this "campaign" is sponsored by a newspaper? What a surprise. Mainstream daily newspapers the world over are "anti-gun", "anti-knife", etc. The writer's description of that hunting knife (looks like a bayonet to me) as "horrifying" says it all. :barf:

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Unfortunately, even when it's the media that starts the campaign, politicians (and the police, on their orders) jump on board so they won't seem like they don't "care".

 

[Cougar Allen]

 

[DeathByCactus]

This is the future of the US... This is the future of the world. Burn it down should it go that far. I am going to start carrying around sharp pencils to use for SD. Hopefully we will get those banned from schools and streets also.

 

[Ed Fowler]

This is why I praised the NRA and AKTI in my last article in Blade, the NRA saved us, for a time, through their fight against gun control. We all need to support both the NRA and AKTI or we will be in the same position.