Knife crime plea to Blair

[saigon68]

Knife crime plea to Blair

By Bo Wilson, Evening Standard

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/15283670?source=Evening%20Standard

13 December 2004

The relatives of victims of fatal stabbings are marching to Downing Street today to demand the same punishment for carrying knives as for having a gun


The families of Damilola Taylor, Luke Walmsley, Kieran Rodney-Davis and Bernard Hegarty say the penalty for carrying knives is not sufficient and are calling for sentences of five years in prison.

Paul Walmsley, father of 14-yearold Luke, who was killed by a schoolmate in November last year, said: "If you carry a gun in a public place, you automatically get a five-year prison sentence.

"But if you carry a knife, even a hunting knife with a seven-inch blade, you will probably only get a caution. The worst that will happen is a ?75 fine. That's a sick joke when you realise that the fine is less than a parking ticket.

[w4rma]

1. These laws are authoritarian. (nt)

[DoNotRefill]

2. This from the same people who brought you a ban on...

glass beer mugs because they are "assault weapons".

I don't think the law passed, but they surely did try....

[saigon68]

3. IT'S BEER PITCHERS AROUND HERE.

They are all plastic now, because some mental midget killed someone with a 4 ponud glass pitcher in a bar fight.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Are you referring to this story?

Council licensing officers in Rossendale, Lancashire, are testing safety glasses which shatter into small pieces on impact.

The glass is similar to the type used for car windscreens.

Under new legislation, it will soon be possible for councils to demand bars where there have been disorder problems to stock the glasses.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/3541165.stm

which doesn't actually sound too bad. It's still glass, but doesn't give you sharp edges to attack someone with. Or is there a right to being able to convert your drinking vessel into a weapon?

[Jack_DeLeon]

6. I think the reporter for that article...

must be an idiot...

Safety Glass used in cars is laminated, and it is relatively strong, yeah try to put someone's head through it. :eyes:

Maybe he is thinking about "sugar glass" which is used in the movie industry for stunts and whatnot.

They are two completely different things.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. He's thinking about toughened glass

which is used in side and rear windows, but not the windscreen (because it gives zero visibility if it is broken). It's still "safety glass".

Toughened glass, or tempered glass as it is sometimes called, is most frequently used in the rear and side windows of vehicles. It is designed to be much stronger than non-safety glass. However, in the case of a breakage, it shatters into very small pieces rather than sharp shards of glass, thereby significantly reducing risk of injury.

http://www.pilkington.co.uk/corporate/english/company+briefing/glass+manufacturing/automotiveprocessing.htm

[DoNotRefill]

11. Nah....here's an article...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3211769.stm

"Pubs and clubs should sell bottled beer and alcopops in plastic bottles in order to cut street violence, a conference has heard.

Plastic surgeon Professor Jonathan Shepherd, of the University of Wales College of Medicine, said the switch would prevent thousands of woundings each year.

He told a crime reduction conference on the link between binge drinking and violent disorder: "Glass bottles are a major category of weapon." "

IIRC, there's also a movement to ban the pint glass mugs/steins, because they too can be used as assault weapons.

[saigon68]

12. prevent thousands of woundings each year.

Beer Bottles are really bad, according to these wannabee regulators.

They now sell beer here in WI in "PLASTIC BOTTLES". My ancestors are rolling in their graves.



Further according to the panty waists, a four pound glass beer pitcher is a formidible weapon.

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. This is fucking rediculous...

knives dont kill people, people do, quit trying to disarm the population even more.

[AP]

8. I think it's reasonable to make the punishment for gun-related offences...

...more severe than for knife-related offenses.

After all, a gun IS more dangerous. They're probably more often fatal, and they're more likely to kill completely innocent bystanders.

The law should definitely be concerned with proportionality. I am positive that there isn't a country in the world that gives the exact same punishment for all crimes (now that the Taliban is out of Kabul).

[IA_Seth]

9. UPDATE: UK Bans Fists in Move to Halt Violence

Duh!

Our civilization is pathetic sometimes.

[Stella_Artois]

10. Before you go stroke your gun cabinet

Pause to think that this is a proposal from a pressure group, not the government saying they are going to do it.

There are pressure groups in the US for just about everything you can imagine, doesn't mean they will actually become law. Unless you have a blank check in one hand and a Bible in the other that is.

[IA_Seth]

13. LOL - Nice ASSumption

But I am not the militia type who "strokes my gun cabinet"

I am however, the type that sees pathetic overlording such as this type of proposal to be what makes it hard for the typical person not to become jaded and turn anti-activist over time.

Not what we need right now, thats all.