Ravenwood - 04/21/04 06:30 AM
The United Kingdom is about to create a whole new class of criminals by passing even more restrictive "gun" control.
MORE than 1,000 people in Hertfordshire could face five years in jail if the Home Office does not adequately publicise a change in gun ownership laws, warns the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).Wait a minute, I thought guns were pretty much already illegal in the U.K.? Well, they are. Although they use the word guns frequently, they are actually banning toys. The "Brocock gun" is not a firearm at all, it's an airgun. In the United States, these toys are frequently bought for young adolescent boys so that they can shoot squirrels or birds. In the U.K., they get you five years in the pokey.From May 1, it will be illegal to possess a Brocock gun without a firearms certificate but BASC argues that not enough people know about the new leglislation.
Britain has already banned the sale, possession or transfer of airguns. (Even when you die, it's illegal to hand the gun down to a relative.) But now they also hope to register the existing toys in circulation, and are emphasizing that owner registration will not lead to confiscation of the toys. For the record, guns that were previously registered in the U.K. were all confiscated.
Category: Cold Dead Hands
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Britain - birthplace of the Magna Carta -
I keep thinking they stoop any lower, and they keep proving me wrong. RIP, Brittania.
Posted by: Persnickety at April 21, 2004 11:21 AMThe reason for this is that these particular 'airguns' which actually fire a ball bearing can be modified to fire live ammunition (I think .22). More than a few guns of this type have been used by armed robbers, druggies and other sub-human filth in their ongoing efforts to make this country a hell for man and beast alike. Although this is indeed typical 'blame the gun' lefty GFW twat hysteria, it is not entirely a policy devised in the local loony bin.
Posted by: robert in england at April 21, 2004 3:21 PMA ball point pen (or any other tubular object) can also be modified to fire a .22 round. Pretty much anything cylindrical can be fashioned to fire a round by simply adding a spring, nail, and some sort of trigger release mechanism.
Posted by: Ravenwood at April 21, 2004 3:26 PMRight John, and if you're with the 'A' Team you can make an armoured car out of two old oil cans and a bent knitting needle......As usual , the many innocents having fun with what you rightly call a toy, are made into criminals by our wonderful nanny state trying to stop the bad guys by harassing the good guys. I was only saying that I could just barely see the reasoning behind the ban......just barely.
Posted by: robert in england at April 21, 2004 3:55 PMI'm not trying to be snotty. I'm just illustrating that the law will have ZERO impact on crime. None! Criminals will find a way.
I've seen evidence of illegal guns being manufactured out of flashlights, pens, cell phones, hair brushes, umbrellas, screwdrivers, etc, etc, etc. There are numerous every day items that can be made into guns, and banning any one of them will not have an impact on crime.
If they really want to cut down on crime, the UK should put the money into proven crime fighting/solving methods rather than spend money on expensive, unenforceable registration schemes.
Posted by: Ravenwood at April 21, 2004 4:05 PMAnd they might also try keeping the real burglars and muggers in prison for several years...
Posted by: markm at April 25, 2004 9:36 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
