I was struck by two contrasting emotions upon reading this editorial in the Telegraph. First, pleasant surprise that views of such obvious common sense have found their expression in a major British news organ but, secondly, dismay that this fact should come as a pleasant surprise at all.
“Since the Government’s “total ban” five years ago, there are more and more guns being used by more and more criminals in more and more crimes. Now, in the wake of Birmingham’s New Year bloodbath, there are calls for the total ban to be made even more total: if the gangs refuse to obey the existing laws, we’ll just pass more laws for them not to obey. According to a UN survey from last month, England and Wales now have the highest crime rate of the world’s 20 leading nations. One can query the methodology of the survey while still recognising the peculiar genius by which British crime policy has wound up with every indicator going haywire – draconian gun control plus vastly increased gun violence plus stratospheric property crime.”
For those of us who knew only too well that this was going to be the result of the absurd and destructive war on self-defence there is a certain amount of satisfaction to be had from having been proved right. But, equally, a mounting despair at the seemingly wilful refusal of most Britons to learn from, or even acknowledge, the evidence that is staring them smack, bang in the face.
Even now, the straightforward truths expressed in this leader would be totally absent from the thoughts of any British journalist and even if that were not so, I suspect none would dare put them into print. We have Mark Steyn to thank for this serice.
“After Dunblane, the police and politicians lapsed into their default position: it’s your fault. We couldn’t do anything about him, so we’ll do something about you. You had your mobile nicked? You must be mad taking it out. Why not just keep it inside nice and safe on the telephone table? Had your car radio pinched? You shouldn’t have left it in the car. House burgled? You should have had laser alarms and window bars installed. You did have laser alarms and window bars but they waited till you were home, kicked the door in and beat you up? You should have an armour-plated door and digital retinal-scan technology. It’s your fault, always. The monumentally useless British police, with greater manpower per capita on higher rates of pay and with far more lavish resources than the Americans, haven’t had an original idea in decades, so they cling ever more fiercely to their core ideology: the best way to deal with criminals is to impose ever greater restrictions and inconveniences on the law-abiding.”
It may seem bizarre these days, but I grew up believing and parrotting the lockstep axiom that the British police ‘are the best in the world’. It is an assertion that may appear obnoxiously arrogant but, considering how things used to be, may be understandable. There was a time when the British police were charged with enforcing laws that were, for the most part, sensible and it was a task to which they devoted their energies with commendable vigour all whilst remaining routinely unarmed and fostering a public perception that they were both honourable and decent. In a few short recent years this situation has been turned on its head. The police are now dining out on their reputation as, indeed, is the entire British political class and a reputation built glacially takes a long time to melt.
Take, for example, this glaring juxtaposition taken from the same newspaper about the government’s response to last week’s shootings in Birmingham:
“The Prime Minister will announce this week that sophisticated airguns which are being adapted to fire live bullets are to be banned as part of a “crackdown” on crime involving firearms.”
The two teenage girls in Birmingham were cut down by a hail of fire from automatic weapons not adapted air-pistols. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is the governments overwhelming, craven, paranoid insistence on being seen to ‘do something’ in response. This new prohibition will pass into law without a murmer of dissent and possibly without even a hint of a critical question. As the situation continues to deteriorate (as it will) toy guns will also be banned and eventually there will be censorship of TV, magazines, films and video games. Who knows, perhaps even discussion on firearms-related matters will be classified as ‘hate speech’.
If anyone thinks that this scenario is implausible, think again. Had anyone suggested, ten years ago, that mere criticism of immigration policies would constitute a criminal offence they would have been dismissed as a crank.
There will be no recognition of the failure of the government’s anti-gun policies either in the short-term or perhaps at all. Prohibitionism has become an article of faith for our public servants and for a majority of the public they purport to serve. I don’t quite know when this happened but I’d wager that it occured at about the same time that reason was slipped a mickey and put to sleep. I only hope and pray that they didn’t use hemlock.
The old saw covers this nicely: Don’t confuse me with facts; my mind is made up !!
Thought for the Day:
“It is useless for sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion.”
William Ralph Inge
England’s escalating gun crime problem from an American perspective:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=2205
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?id=350
I doubt censorship will happen, but the toy gun iban is almost certain to. (It’s so pontless, kids will use twigs as guns for f*ckssake.) Other things that will be tried: give a gun to every cop (oh whoops, the bent coppers are reselling their guns!), stupidly draconian sentences (five years for murder, 30 for owning a gun, you bechoorass they’ll shoot back and shoot to kill, they have nothing to lose) and finally, public demonization campaigns along the lines of the drunk driver adverts.
I do not expect Labour to give this up anythime soon. They are socialists, and to even be a socialist you have to have a serious disregard for the repeatedly demonstrated facts.
No mention of the failed prohibitionist drugs policy that’s probably the root cause much gang-related and property crime in this country?
Britain had the same prohibitionist drug policy twenty years ago, but much lower crime.
Not that I’m defending prohibition, but it’s not responsible for the upsurge in crime.
Why do you think Britain’s gun policies are a failure? The situation has enabled the government to exercise ever greater restrictions and control on the general population. For someone, that’s a win.
It’s a failure in regard to the objectives that the law was supposed to achieve.
But that’s neither here nor there, as many left-wing laws are rarely designed to achieve any stated goal but rather assert greater influence and control over ‘the masses’.
And in the same week as yet more gun-control legislation is announced, Derry Irvine suggests community service rather than prison for first-time burglary offenders. The twin follies of post-war British crime policy – tough on law-abiding people, soft on criminals – on display at one and the same time! Is this a foolishness record?
Warmongering Lunatic
Can’t agree with you on that one
See (by way of example only)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2190483.stm
“Operation Trident’s figures for drugs-related gun crime make stark reading. So far this year there have been 13 murders.”
“Drugs-related shootings are already up 42% on the last year. Some 10% of the incidents involved “drive-by” shootings”
“Commander Brown said he believed that such London’s black communities were at a crossroads where there was a chance to break the cycle that was leading more and more young men into drugs-related crime.”
And that’s just the drugs-related gun crime. Once you add in burglaries (a third of burglaries are said to be linked to drugs), muggings, etc etc etc
Ah hah! We finally discover what Blunkett wants to do about “gun crime”.
Drumroll please….
He’s going to bitch and whine about violent rap music. Ta daaah! The country is saved.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2632343.stm
Ya gotta laugh…
Ok, I really need a sanity infusion here.
What the *hell* is happening to our country?
We have hate speech laws that are used to muzzle concerned subjects (note to American readers, we are *not* citizens, we are subjects).
You’re not allowed to defend youself in this country, you’re not allowed to disagree with the government, you’re not supposed to complain that your pension has been slashed by a third, soon you’ll be in court time and time again until the jury comes up with the right answer (or lets get rid of the jury), we’re not going to get a referendum on whether our currency is jettisoned, there is no opposition worth speaking about and we’re expecting to pay more and more taxes with less and less representation. Oh, and the leeches in Brussels are sucking liberty, treasure and dignity from the jugular of the nation as we watch, seemingly helpless.
Will someone *please* point out the silver lining?
Recommendations from ex-Brits living in other countries please???
I would like to know, just what was to blame before video games and violent movies came out? Surely Adolf Hitler didn’t have a copy of The Getaway, so what was his excuse?
Oh, wait. I think human violence has probably always existed. It just took a politician to point out that we, of course, are not to blame for our own actions, but only for the actions of others. If I own a copy of The Getaway and you commit a crime, it must be my fault!