Gun Culture

Monday, June 26, 2006

Mx5-tastic

Many moons ago I shared with you my extreme dissapointment that the MX5 was too small for my lanky frame.  Some time later I find that a smaller steering wheel could be just the job to sort out the problem and so in December last I bought an MX5.  Wife hits the roof because I didn’t tell her what I was doing, and so in the interests of avoiding a frosty silent Christmas I gave backword to the man at the garage and peace was restored.  Probably just as well because it was a rust bucket with a leaky roof.
Fast forward to the beginning of the month and we are test driving a Nissan Navara, on the way back there is an MX5 outside a garage so we stop for a test drive.  No intention of buying because I don’t want a red one.  Anyhow chummy says that a Bronze is coming in the following Wednesday. so I go I see and I buy.

(that’s the dealer in the driver seat btw)
The view from the driver’s seat last Thursday.  Solway coast looking towards Jimmyland.

..and the thing which makes the difference between jammed knee and comfort, a Raid Silberpfeil

Friday, June 23, 2006

UN Gun Ban

Via top fella Dave Green comes this heads up regarding the latest UN gun grabbing initiative sponsored by various dictators, arch-witch and stripy jumper wearer Rebecca Peters and of course her bank roller George Soros.

A week on Monday the next UN Conference on Small Arms and Light Weapons
opens in New York.  We are deeply concerned at the probability of anti-gun groups using this opportunity to push for new restrictions upon our legally held firearms.

With our continental colleagues on FESAC have drawn up the attached letter to send to Kofi Annan, who takes a strong personal interest in this subject and will be chairing
the Conference.

Please add your name and address to the attached letter, print and sign it, and post it by Airmail to the address on the attached label.

To be effective, Kofi Annan needs to receive your letter by next week, so time is of the essence! 

PLEASE DO IT TODAY

Best regards

HBSA Council

UN_Kofi_Annan_letter.doc
UN_Kofi_Annan_address_label.doc

The UN is stuffed to the gunnels with dictators and communists, even so our government is not averse to using it as an excuse to get what it wants.  They would be delighted to declare that private ownership of arms was herewith prohibited and could say “sorry chaps, it was the UN what dunnit”.  I fear in this we are reliant on our chums in the US to save our bacon again - another reason why I consider my Life Membership of the NRA money well spent.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

David Cameron

The more I see of this vile creature the less I like, in fact he has overhauled Tone as my number one most hated politician.
Lately we had a sensible policy suggestion

Mr Davis told BBC Television’s Sunday AM that ID cards due to be introduced from 2008 were “a waste of money in security terms” and that more prisons were necessary “to take the prisoner out of circulation for longer”.

but in the same paper we get

David Cameron will insist this week that politicians have a right to interfere in family life.

David Cameron can go and fuck himself, politicians can mind their own business.  They have absolutely no right to interfere in family life whatsoever.  If the way I chose to life my life adversely impacts others (i.e. I commit crimes) then the state can sanction me but otherwise - nose out!
A comment about politicians and do-gooders oft repeated on NRA News is that they think they know how to live our lives a heck of a lot better than we do.  So it is with practically every politician in Blighty.
Cameron also seems to think it is his business to tell fathers to be present at the birth of their children.  Again, mind your own fucking business ‘Dave’.

If anyone finds a conservative party can they please send it to us?  Britain is in dire need of one and ours seems to have gone awol.  It will be a cold day in Hell before I cast a vote for this Blue Labour facsimilie.

English Democrats

So I went to a meeting with the English Democrats and the Campaign for an English Parliament last week.  It was poorly attended (par for the course for political meetings) but the speakers were enthusiastic and knowledgable.
My thoughts?
Firstly the CEP, didn’t see much to disagree with here but to be honest I was put off a bit by the speaker using the term ‘moreover’ - pet peeve of mine.  Petty I know.  So quite happy with what they had to say.
Secondly the English Democrats.  For the most part I was nodding but then the speaker moved to the instances where the Jimmies were getting handouts that we were getting.  This irked me greatly, not just in the sense that those north of the border are busy voting themselves bread and ciruses to which we will be picking up the tab.  The tone of the speaker seemed to be that we should also be getting these handouts.  So the thrust being - why can’t we be more socialist like the Scots.  That just turned me off completely.  The idea that we are being effectively taxed without representation on the body spending those taxes is the annoying part not that we should be getting the spends too.  Taxation without representation you may recall being one of the moans that kicked off the American Revolution.
The English Democrats are also very quiet on the EU.  This should be our first priority, regain control of our legislation and then to sort out the mess caused by devolution.  The EDs seem to be saying that the main difference between them and UKIP is the latter’s focus on the EU first.  I say that it cannot be any other way. Withdraw from the EU and the regionalisation nonsense will die.
Another problem I have with the ED is that they have come to the conclusion that we need yet another Parliament with yet more politicians with their snouts in the trough.  This is the last thing on God’s green Earth we need.  What need is less of the blood sucking bastards.  Since keeping them occupied should be a priority (how many MPs seem to find time for a clutch of other jobs, directorships etc) we should have share mandate.  For example three days a week on UK issues and two days on devolved issues.  Certainly no new buildings, offices and hangers on.  Many so call ed good constituency MPs spend much of their time self publicising by becoming involved in projects which have nothing to do with their job brief (to represent their constituency in Parliament) such as helping Mrs Timmins with her cracked step or whatever - social work effectively.
No, I have some sympathy with the English Democrat’s position and fully agree that the imbalance must be corrected but cannot agree with their solution and fear that all they are doing is splitting the anti-EU vote whilst doing the devil’s work by promoting further erosion of Parliament.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Hungry?

Don’t go down to your local fast food joint and hand over your hard earned, shinny up your nearest roof top and chuck a couple of roof tiles down.
Result?  Two packs of smokes and a family meal from KFC.  Super.

According to Gloucestershire Police:

‘Although he’s on the roof being a nuisance, we still have to look after his well-being and human rights.’

What they should have done is declared him a terrorist suspect and shot him off the roof - much cheaper.  I suspect that the ‘human rights’ toss is just the latest buzz word rather than an actual directive but this obviously adds to the increasing discrediting of so called ‘human rights’ which only seem to apply to law breakers.
More in the Daily Mail

Monday, June 05, 2006

Terror raid - mistake?

From the various scuttle butt regarding the raid in which a suspect was shot it strikes me that we have had a visit from Mr Cockup.  In terms of the raid itself, residents in the street in question say that the stake-out vehicle had been quite obvious for some time.  A vehicle not from the area being parked up and having two bored looking people drinking coffee in it seemingly not that good a disguise.  So if these two were up to no good then it seems reasonable to assume that they had plenty of advanced warning to cover their tracks.  This could mean that the device alleged to have been there could now be elsewhere and ready for use, alternatively it may never have existed.
The shooting of one of the men seems to be a bit odd too.  What circumstances lead to this?  Difficult of course to put oneself in the boots of the officer involved, no doubt he had been told just what dangerous individuals they were and to expect that they wore suicide vests to bed.  However we are aware that a decision to open fire should be based upon a credible immediate danger and that the shot is taked to neutralise the threat.  Given this I am interested to know why the suspect was shot in the shoulder and only once.  Obviously the MP5 was set to single shot, but if the threat was immediate and credible then why was there sufficient time to re-assess after a single shot?  Personally I suspect the shot was reflexive, poorly aimed and at least partly unintentional by an officer either pumped up on go-get-em bravado or one who was shitting himself.  If it were me I’d have been in the latter camp for sure.

Update
Aha!  According to the Times Online

it emerged that the officer involved in the shooting of a suspected terrorist told independent investigators that it was an accident.
The armed officer who led the raid on a suspected chemical bomb factory in East London said that he did not deliberately fire the shot

Scotland Yard sources deny that the experienced officer panicked in the darkness when a figure appeared, running towards him on the stairs.

The piece also talks about the claim that the gun ‘went off’ as part of a struggle.  Personally I think this is bullshit of the highest order, the suspect would not have been allowed to get so close to the officer that a struggle could have ensued - he would certainly have been shot before getting so close in the circumstances of this raid.

Scabby Finger

Well the bandages are off and staying off now, the foil nail ‘fell off’ on Saturday night (alcohol involved!) so I figured it was time to let some daylight in.  The nail seems to be growing back fairly well but the finger tip itself is still very raw and sensitive.

Friday, June 02, 2006

End Victim Disarmament Say Libertarian Alliance

Got to love Dr Sean Gabb of the Libertarian Alliance.  Never afraid to stand up and say what is right regardless of the political climate and popular opinion, many shooters dislike what he has to say because they think he plays into the hands of gun grabbers.  Needless to say I wholeheartedly agree with Dr Gabb on most occasions, none more so than his latest press release on behalf of the Libertarian Alliance entitled “LIBERALISE WEAPONS LAW NOW: END VICTIM DISARMAMENT”, FREE MARKET AND CIVIL LIBERTIES THINK TANK TELLS HOME SECRETARY.  Catchy ain’t it?

The Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties policy institute, today calls on the Home Secretary to ignore the media-led hysteria over knife crimes, and to legalise the carrying and use of weapons for self-defence.

Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Sean Gabb, says:

“Laws against carrying knives in public - or any weapons - are an infringement of our liberties and are a waste of police time. The only people who obey such laws are the respectable, and these cause no trouble. Those who do commit assaults are no more likely to obey the existing or prospective law on weapons than they are to stop listening to horrid music or to wash their hands after using the toilet.

“Even turning the country into a police state, with powers of random stop and search and scanners in public places, will do nothing to disarm these creatures. Such laws will only inconvenience the respectable. They disarm us to the point where criminals can roam among us like a fox among chickens. If we are already disarmed, we still face the indignity of being searched by police officers who are increasingly useless and corrupt.
“We need to get back to the sane legal climate of the Victorian era, when citizens were expected to take part in defending themselves, and were encouraged to use lethal force when they believed it necessary.
“We must be allowed to carry knives for our self-defence if we so wish. But we should also be allowed to carry guns. After all, using a knife requires skills in which the criminal classes tend to have an advantage. But guns equalise, regardless of age or sex; and nothing beats a bullet.
“To be precise, we need to go back to the laws of our ancestors when a person could walk into a gun shop and, without showing a licence or any form of identification, buy as many guns and as much ammunition as he pleased, and could keep these at home, or carry them about in public, for the defence of his life or property.
“At the same time, we need real punishments for real crimes. Those who commit assaults on others should be caught and punished with terrifying swiftness and severity. Assuming due process of law, I see no objection to the use of the death penalty.
“But the only certain way to clear away the human trash who infest our streets is to let us, the respectable public, take part in the cleansing.
“Further laws to criminalise the carrying of weapons is a retrograde step and should be resisted by the authorities. They are nothing more than victim disarmament.”

The Libertarian Alliance believes:

* That there should be no controls on possessing and carrying weapons, including handguns, for self-defence, and that accordingly the Firearms Acts and all other restrictive laws should be repealed;
* That there should be a legal and moral climate in which, where believed necessary, the use of lethal force to protect life or property is celebrated;
* That all persons found guilty under the existing laws against self-defence should be pardoned and where appropriate compensated;
* That all criminal laws should be repealed except those directed against force or fraud;
* That all agencies of inspection and control set up to implement laws against victimless crimes should be immediately abolished, and that their records be destroyed;
* That all investigatory powers given to the authorities for the prosecution of victimless crimes should be immediately abolished;
* That any organisation arguing against the above should receive no public funding.

Amen brother.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Kitchen Knives “off the streets”

Get a load of this “arsenal” of knives now “off the streets” making our community safer.

As reported in the Local Rag

These knives are now off Cumbria’s streets following the first week of a national amnesty

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the only time any of this collection of ancient kitchen knives has been on the streets recently was when the were en route to the plod’s red bin of doom.  Even the machete held up by the wooden top is covered in rust and has obviously lain in someones shed for years having been originally purchased to hack back garden foilage, later discarded when the owner found out that it was as blunt as you like.

I notice in one of the red tops today that one force is trumpeting a “rocket launcher”, again sticking my neck out I’m going to predict that this is one of the LAW disposable launcher tubes and therefore no more dangerous than a length of drain pipe.

What a crock of fucking shite.

If police chiefs and politicians are really serious about making our streets safer then they should start by looking at another headline in the same rag and asking themselves “What’s wrong with this?”

Police Target: To solve less than 1 in 3 crimes