Gun Culture

Friday, October 26, 2007

Nite Watches

Just a wee post to say how chuffed I am with Nite Watches.
I bought one of their MX-10s maybe a year and a half ago, after initially thinking it was a bit of a lump compared to the G 10 I had been wearing I grew to love it.  Easily the best watch I’ve ever owned, hard wearing and subtle plus the GTLS ilummination is fantastic.
So I was disappointed when the strap retainer loop snapped unexpectedly.  I figured it was a bit unreasonable for a watch advertised as being used by special forces to fail on a fat bloke wearing it to work.  Their warranty doesn’t cover the strap so I figured I’d probably have to buy a new one (strap that is).
However an email to Nite explaining the situation resulted in a new loop in the post within a couple of days - excellent!
Thank you to the Customer Services folks at Nite Watches from a very happy customer.

Dirka Dirka Refuses To Serve Squaddie

From The Scum (please don’t buy the Scum)

AN ASIAN worker at a BP filling station provoked fury by turning away a soldier because he was in uniform.
The shocked Army officer – wearing combat fatigues – was told to go away and change before he could buy beer from the service station shop.
But witnesses claimed the snub was due to the attendant’s antiwar views.
The incident is the latest in a series of blows to Forces personnel, who feel neglected by the nation.
The officer is a captain with 16 Air Assault Brigade, whose 5,000 troops fought heroically against the Taliban in Afghanistan last summer.
He said the public snub – at Wisley South Connect station on the A3 near Guildford, Surrey – left him humiliated and shamed in front of a dozen other customers.
He asked to remain anonymous in case of reprisal attacks by extremists, but reported the incident to BP and to the Army Families Federation.
The federation’s spokeswoman Melanie Pullan told The Sun: “I talked to this officer, and it was very disappointing to hear his experiences. It made our blood boil.
“We would ask the nation to get behind their troops, considering the sort of sacrifice so many are making.
“Their war has never been against Muslims. It’s a shame people can’t respect their service to the country, whether you agree with the politics behind it or not.”
BP last night issued a grovelling apology to the officer, claiming it was a bungle over the licensing laws and NOT a result of prejudice or politics.
A BP spokeswoman said: “We apologise sincerely to the Army officer for the inconvenience and embarrassment that has been caused.
“None of our staff has the right to discriminate on who they serve, regardless of what they are wearing.
“We investigated the incident and believe it was caused by an error in interpretation of the licensing laws. Retraining of staff is now taking place.”
BP insisted the snub was a simple misunderstanding.
A spokesman claimed the attendant thought it was illegal to sell alcohol to cops in uniform, and assumed the same rule applied to squaddies.
But witnesses who saw the incident are adamant it had nothing to do with licensing laws, and was based instead on the worker’s political views and prejudice against soldiers.

If this had been a white person refusing to serve a muslim then all hell would have broken loose, the police would certainly have been involved.  This fucker doesn’t need retraining, he needs sacked.

Ban bog roll!

Some numpty apparently tried to hold up a bookies with a bog roll tube up his sleeve claiming it was a gun.
Staff weren’t fooled by this wheeze however!
From BBC News

A man has admitted attempting to rob a Glasgow bookmakers by claiming a toilet roll up his sleeve was a gun.
John McMillan, 25, told staff at Ladbrokes in the Saltmarket area of the city: “I’ve got a gun. Give me money.”
Staff refused to believe he was armed and when he left empty-handed he was confronted and wrestled to the ground.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Blair for the chop?

Oh please let it be so!
The Telegraph reports today that Blair is close to losing his position

Sir Ian is making his monthly appearance before the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA). Some members had threatened to push for a vote of no confidence in his leadership but left it too late to table the required motion

This bastard is the very incarnation of what is wrong with policing today.  The very embodiment of the Paramilitary Wing of the Guardian.  This creature is obsessed with thought crimes, sees racism under every rock.  He’s not interested in looking up thieves, he’s only interested in imposing his political ideal upon people using the law and the police as his instrument.
Herman Goering for a new generation.

Shooting Accident Justified

Remember the story of a copper shooting a police administrator in a demonstration?
It later turned out that the individual shot was a member of AirgunBBS, and now it seems that the past tense is correct.  Not because he is dead but because he’s been banned from the board for his comments about cats.
Yup he is one of those fuckers who mouths off about shooting cats or killing cats or being cruel to cats in some way.
Fucking karma you twat, you get no bloody sympathy from me for being shot now.  In fact I wish to withdraw all my disparaging comments about the fine upstanding and professional officer who shot him.  Well done mate, he deserved it.
Well done also to the moderators of AirgunBBS, it really is wankers like this that are jepordising shooting in general.  No one should be condoning cruelty to peoples beloved pets. 

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Are The Police On Our Side?

I’ve had a couple of people not best pleased that I’ve called some Police scum, as the people taking me to task are Good People I thought maybe I’d address the situation in the blog rather than just to the individuals.
Firstly let me point out that the phrase ‘Fucking scum’ was used on a specific post in reference to some specific coppers.  I feel quite justified in calling ‘fucking scum’ these disgraces to the uniform who consider it appropriate to physically assault a public spirited person who helped out at an accident on the motorway (some would say he was a hero and I’d agree) for the offence of wanting to get back to work.  Their actions may have been ‘justified’ and ‘correct application of the law’ but there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that their actions were deplorable.  If the story is to be believed then an Inspector back at the nick said he was

ashamed to have that police officer on the force at GMP

I stand by my comments on this incident 100%.
Calling this copper ‘fucking scum’ is a far call from calling all coppers ‘fucking scum’ and I’m sure that most coppers will appreciate this.

Turning to a point now made by my critics, that most coppers are good people who are hobbled by high command.
This may have been true 20 years ago, but now I fear that the situation has changed.  Marxists have been in charge of the upper levels for decades, they have been moulding the police service to suit their political agenda for years.  Recruitment seems to be more about hitting diversity targets and ensuring that recruits react appropriately to thought crime.  It is a little naive to think that given the system is designed to ensure that successful candidates are sympathetic to the Marxist agenda that somehow the majority of them are on side.  We don’t have to dig very deep to find evidence that the police service has become institutionally Marxist in it’s make up.  Thought crimes are given incredible priority, police are sent around to harras people who dare to write critical letters to elected officials, police are tasked to find fault with people who are a little rude to high profile officers in blogs, they make up laws on the spot in the hope that the victim will be none the wiser and when that fails they try to goad him into commiting a public order offence.  The rank and file consider themselves to be a breed apart from the normal subject, they claim ownership of our laws and guard their monopoly with incredible jealousy.
If the rank and file are mostly decent people then why does not their representative body speak out in support of the common subject?  Can someone point me to a press release from the Federation condemning the building of a national database of DNA by stealth?  Or condemning that other monsterously illiberal act in the pipeline, the identity database and associated card?  What about condemning the use of the Terrorism Act for supressing legitimate protest?
I do not use the term Paramilitary Wing of the Guardian in a humourous manner, it is not just a quip.  It has become the de facto reality.
There may well be genuine good people who want to do the right thing in the police service, but I think it is clear that they are very much in the minority.  No doubt there are many in the service uncomfortable at what they are being tasked to do, they do not speak out for fear of losing their job and pension.  This is understandable and puts them in a difficult spot, however I am not going to refrain from calling them out when they commit illiberal acts.
Some people point out that most of police work is still a Good Thing.  I’m inclined to agree, but this does not excuse someone for being part of a machine which commits disgusting illiberal statist acts.  Every time one of these ‘good people’ takes a DNA test of a person arrested, regardless of whether they are charged, knowing that the DNA results will be retained for ever; they commit a crime against freedom and liberty.  When they remain silent or close ranks when one of their number commits assault against an ordinary member of the public or reacts disproportionately to a child with a plastic toy, then they are complicit in these.
I will defend the police when they are in the news for controversial acts such as not sending out armed officers to a youth with a toy gun, or when a chump is shot with an imitation gun having behaved aggressively with it, but I refuse to give them a free pass when they cross the line.  To do so would be like refusing to condemn Beverly Allitt because most nurses do a fantastic job, or saying that we should not have prosecuted Harold Shipman because most doctors save lives.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Support for gun control dwindling in America

A great headline in the Baltimore Sun.  Though I was surprised when I read further.

Just 51 percent of Americans believe that laws governing the sale of firearms should be made more strict

I had no idea the number was so high in the first place.
Looking at the Gallup poll though, this is more like it:

A solid majority of Americans (58%) opt for focusing exclusively on better enforcement of existing laws

No surprises here:

a majority of women favor making them stricter

This is a surprise though,

a solid majority of nonwhites favor stricter laws

Have they forgotten the concerted efforts to disarm non-whites in the past?  Or the times when a gun would have protected the family from racial violence?
A final nonshock:

Two-thirds of Democrats favor stricter gun laws

...bears shit in the woods, Pope Catholic etc.

Teacher Fights For Right To Bear Arms

In the recent news we heard of the boy who, following suspension, returned to school armed and shot a number of staff and pupils.  Fortunately it seems he only managed to kill himself, shame he didn’t just get that done at home.
In this atmosphere it is no surprise to hear stories of gun grabbers bleating about keeping guns out of schools, as if legislation will magically prevent shootings.
So I was cheered to hear of this story from Oregon of a teacher challenging a schools ban on teachers having guns on campus.  Shirley Katz, a concealed carry permit holder, takes the pragmatic view that:

On any given day, we would be naive to not acknowledge there are guns in schools

The idea that having a gun-free zone makes a safe zone is a fallacious theory

Absolutely.
To us in the UK the idea that a teacher (and a female teacher at that) would argue that she should be allowed a gun in school is beyond unthinkable, not just because we kid ourselves that we are so superiour to our cousins across the pond that we don’t have violence in schools either.  You won’t find many teachers who aren’t raving Marxists and you certainly won’t find many female teachers that would support armed self defence.  In fact I can’t ever recall a teacher who wasn’t a Marxist of some shade, if there were any conservative teachers they were either careful to keep it to themselves or, more likely, they considered it inappropriate to promote their politics to impressionable youngsters.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Coincidence?

I’m not a great believer in coincidence.
So it is interesting that the trial of the crap suicide bombers is running at the same time as the prosecution of the Met over the botched surveillance which led to the murder of Jean Charles.
OK, so the incidents happened at the same time (obviously) but is it too much of a stretch to say that it is convienient for the Met that the trials coincide?
They can more easily say, “Oh yes, we fucked up - but look at these bastards”.
Hmmm.

Let Kids Booze In Pubs At 16

Wow.  That’s not the kind of thing we are accustomed to hearing from our ‘betters’ in the medical profession.

We need to let youngsters drink from the age of 16 legally.  I think it’s better they are inside in a pub with sanctions of normal behaviour, rather than outside in the park with no controls.

So says Director of public health and Cumbria county medical officer Professor John Ashton in this article in the Local Rag.  I’m not quite sure if that’s realistic or not, perhaps he means that young ‘uns coming the arse in a pub are more likely to be on the receiving end of a knuckle sandwhich than in the park where they are more likely to harass genteel folk walking their dog.  On the other hand I wonder if the Professor is imagining his friendly local rather than a town pub on a Friday night where the sanctions of normal behaviour certainly do not seem to apply.
Professor Ashton also says that the original safe drinking level from the Royal Society was 40 units of booze, rather than the piddling half that level currently recommended.

We need goals that are aspirationally possible. We need to be more practical about these things

Absolutely.  For many of us who like a tipple, the 21 units is cloud cuckoo land.  You’d have to be a Sainted Aunt to stick to that level, it’s next door to teetotal for a large number of people so we think “Why bother?”.  Perhaps if the target was more sensible we might consider it.  Well maybe not too, but it’s nice to find someone in the Professor’s position actually talking sense for a change.

Undercover Copper Lucky Not To Be Shot

Given the chaos that unfolded on that fateful day it is surprising that the undercover officer tailing Jean Charles De Menezes was not the one executed on the train.
Especially when you consider the following evidence given to the trial.

“It’s worthy of note that I was dressed virtually identically to Mr de Menezes. Denim jacket, denim jeans.”
The officer said he was also carrying a rucksack, unlike Mr de Menezes, who only had a newspaper.

Two men dressed identically, one has a rucky and the other a newspaper.  Which of those two would you suspect to be a suicide bomber?  A man dressed in a light coat or the bloke with the rucksack?
As more information comes to light is becomes more and more shocking that the officers considered a restrained individual with no rucksack or bag or suspiciously bulky clothes (bear in mind that we knew by that stage the kind of bombs that the suspects were capable of producing) to be such a threat that immediate execution was necessary.  That said I still believe that the fault in this tragic incident lies much higher up the chain.  Blair was so incompetent and out of touch with this team that he did not know (or so he claims) for some time that the man shot was entirely innocent, given the high profile nature of this operation is it not reasonable to expect that he would have been monitoring the progress closely?  Blair is only in the position he holds because of his political stance, not his actual competency.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

GCN Baiting

11 year old girl field stripping an AR-15.

Break that toy gun or I arrest the boy

Another example of the wonderful standard of policing in the UK.
Via AirgunBBS comes this article in This Is Wiltshire.
Young lad of 8, out playing with his toy M16 as happens in practically every residential street up and down the land is told that the toy must be destroyed or he will be taken down the station.

As we can see the gun itself is far from realistic.
Community beat officer Vicky Floyd says

“All reports of firearms result in the deployment of specifically trained officers and this diverts them from other duties.
There is also a risk to the person carrying such a weapon. It is difficult to tell the difference between a real and an imitation firearm and officers will take appropriate action to protect the public.”

Not in this case love.  This was quite clearly a case of a young boy playing with a toy, you do not need to be a firearms expert to spot that.
Two things need to happen here.
1st the copper needs to have it down the toy shop and buy the lad a new toy, which should be delivered with apologies.
2nd the person who called it in as a firearms incident needs to be charged with wasting police time.

Declining Standards?

I shouldn’t scoff as my written English isn’t exactly text book....
....but I’m gonna!
As seen in my local Boots:

Thursday, October 04, 2007

This Isn’t Communist China Mate

These two coppers swear blind that filming the police is an offence.

Probably is an offence now under some terrorism law or another.
Gawd, this is turning into some kind of copper bashing blog.  It isn’t meant to be, honest!  There have just been so many negative news items about the police lately, shooting an open goal.