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I just saw this on BBC News & wondered what UK, European & further afield shavers & RAD sufferers will be doing for their sharp & shinies:cry::cry::rant::eek:
BBC NEWS | Business | eBay bans trade in knives in UK
EDIT: Here's what eBay have to say
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200902.sh...09-02-09183038
This is very sad. I wonder if the ban includes razors. If I read correctly the idea is to conform with the law regarding knives. The question really is: are razors illegal in the UK?
Al raz.
Well, it was only a matter of time. UK doctors have been pushing for a complete knife ban for years now due to "all the violent trauma" they must treat in the ER. It's a load of crap of course, but the nanny state that is the UK will most likely give the good doctors at least part of what they're asking for. The problem isn't just not being able to buy a razor on eBay, what happens whey the authorities decide no one should be able to own something that sharp at all. Then it will be "turn them in and melt them down".
Because cutlery knives aren't dangerous, and people don't already have sharp pointy things in their kitchen drawers already.Quote:
EBay has said it intends to ban trade in all knives, apart from cutlery knives
I predict a surge in sales of "cutlery knives" on ebay.
Seriously, the UK government are completely clueless about violent crime. They made it damn near impossible to legally own firearms in the 80s and 90s, and now there are plenty of criminals - even children - owning guns illegally.
Now that the UK has a growing problem with teenagers killing each other with knives, the government thinks the solution is to try and restrict supply. Ferchrissaskes the problem is not that kids are carrying knives, it is that kids know that they can literally get away with murder and the law will not punish them - they are "below the age of criminal responsibility." Also we spend so much time teaching kids about their own rights and entitlements that they turn into selfish little bastards who are willing to kill each other over the most trivial reasons like "not showing respect." The way to fix this problem is to bring back discipline in schools and from parents and to hold young people responsible for their actions and PUNISH them accordingly.
Aaaargh.:mad::mad: Rant over.
God save th UK. Its just a matter of time before they try that crap here.
well you never know what might happen once OBAMUNISM really takes hold here in the good'ole US of A.
knives don't kill people...
angry people that have anything that could be used as a weapon kill people.\
i'm pretty sure that if i were properly motivated, i could kill someone with this hp laptop that i'm typing on. ebay gonna ban them too?:gth
I read somewhere the slogan. If they ban guns can we use swords?
I also read somewhere that Australian gangs were using swords due to a ban in guns. Now that is sport.
we should use baseball bats to see if we can get them banned
I couldn't believe this, so I looked it up. I found this story from 03: Father who told off gang killed by sword blow - TelegraphQuote:
Originally Posted by singlewedge
That's nuts! I'm not sure how anyone gets away with walking around with a katana:thinking: I guess if it comes to that, we'll all have one more thing to hone!
To be fair, the knife crime in the UK is going through the roof, so they have to do something.
Unfortunately, banning knives is not going to solve the problem.
Most of the knife crime is committed with kitchen knives, which are far more suited to that sort of thing than folders or other knives.
One bozo even suggested banning the sale of pointed kitchen knives, because most people don't really need the point. :gaah::rant:
But even if they manage to ban kitchen knives, there'll always be scissors.
And exacto knives.
And axes.
And screwdrivers.
And sharpened pencils.
And battons
And tire irons
And chains
And...
Instead of trying to ban all these things, they'd better start looking at the social / cultural reason for all this violence, and do something about it. Because sooner or later the situation is going to explode.
Come on, Bruno, be realistic! If you "start looking at the social/cultural reasons for all this violence, and do something about it" you're going to end up stepping on the toes of the powerful. Besides, if the situation explodes, there is a police state waiting in the wings to restore order.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Definitely.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
I understand it's a different culture, and I hate to sound like a cowboy, but arm the citizens that are getting shanked and I bet that crime would drop considerably. Take that man that was killed by a katana from the news story I posted. If that was my dad (or anyone else) in the small town I used to live in, he would've gone up to those punks with a shotgun in their face- probably would've fired one off for effect. The police would have backed him up.
I do apologize if I'm taking this any further off topic, but it seems mind boggling to me the way that this violent crime can be almost pranced around in front of good, law abiding people, and they can't do anything about it. Or when they do something about it, such as the disabled man that tried to protect his neighbor's store, they get punished. I just can't fathom that.
What surprises me is that none of these neighborhoods have started a vigilante group yet.
I realize it's against the law, and it would cause a smurf storm if it ever got out.
But if the situation is so bad that you are living in a war zone and your kids are in danger, and the law can't protect you anymore, and the law furthermore only seems to be intended to prevent you from defending yourself, ...
At some point, enough is enough.
I am moving this into the Conversation forum because we are drifting away from the purpose of this thread. But I will leave a redirect in place in the ebay forum.
Murder is a matter of WILL! Not what is in your hand. There are ways to kill, using nothing BUT your hands. As long as a criminal's rights take priority over the rights of the hapless people he savagely killed, then there will always be a problem. And as long as children aren't taught discipline and that there are certain and sure consequences to their evil deeds, they literally won't care who they hurt.
It is human nature to go as far as possible and to get away with all you can. THAT is why we have laws. But if those laws are totally screwed up and the nanny state is run by idiots who say, "Let MY conscience be YOUR guide," we get chaos.
There are no absolutes anymore. Kids aren't taught that it is absolutely wrong to hurt others. They aren't taught that it is absolutely wrong to prey on innocent people. And if they engage in that behavior, they are going to absolutely be punished so severely that they won't EVER hurt another, again.
Laws cannot protect us. Laws only prohibit certain behavior and prescribe a particular punishment if the law is violated. The statutes against murder only come into play AFTER someone has been killed.
The law cannot stop anyone from doing anything. It can only make them wish they hadn't committed the crime.
Not that I disagree with your general opinion, but I teach my kids this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Brother Jeeter
This is one of the very few inviolable rules in my house.
The problem is that not enough people are teaching this anymore, and that society accepts this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Man what a good thread, I have to agree with you Bruno, the nieghborhood watch group needs to become the nieghborhood safety committee. I remember a few times in my life people have fallen downstairs or something similar and when the authorities show up nobody knows what happened, but for some reason the social climate would cool down shortly after one of these incidents.
"You gotta keep'em separatedQuote:
Originally Posted by Rajagra
Hey, they don't pay no mind
If you're under 18 you won't be doing any time
Hey, come out and play" --The Offspring, "Come out and play"
I'm another one who thinks arming the general populace is a good idea. I'm from Texas, where many adults (and kids, too, out in the country) carry guns and it's considered completely normal. Heinlein was right, though... people tend to be very polite 'round these parts :rock:
During my first patrol on a submarine, one of the crew was discovered with pictures of the wife of a shipmate. It was learned the guy stole the woman's pictures from her husband's locker. The thief was just a little misguided. You can make a safe bet that every sailor is carrying a knife. This guy should have thought about that before he went into another man's locker, nevermind to swipe something so personal, so irreplacable. The thief was brought from Crew's Berthing up to the Control Room. He was very close to dead. Even though the trip was upstairs, that guy somehow managed to fall down the stairs, several times. Oddly, not one cut or stab wound was found on the man.
What's my point? It is to me obvious that the knife is not the issue. I always carry a knife but it would be one of my last choices as a weapon. I was a bouncer in a busy seaport bar. I'd much rather have a pool cue than a pocketknife.
So people in the UK don't know how to remove a boning knife or a meat cleaver from their kitchen?
According to their government, no. Such simple folk:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by icedog
Can anyone from the UK explain this aversion to both arming the populace and allowing kids to get away with murder? Once again, it's a culture difference that I'm just trying to understand because I don't get it. One of my goals for the year is to better understand the world and the people in it:)
I think where my confusion stems from is the non-action from people about this. How many kids got killed last year in England? Wasn't it upwards of 30? I don't get how the answer to this is "ban knives" and not "let's go kick these gang bangers' asses".
well, it's britain, so i think they say "arses" instead. it's a weird cultural difference.Quote:
Originally Posted by Quick Orange
I was seriously tempted to use the ROFL emoticon if this wasn't such a sad issueQuote:
Originally Posted by Quick Orange
I think you are confusing '2008' with 'december of 2008'
A quick check confirmed that there's nearly one stabbing-a-day.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/ja...ime-statistics
270 in England and Wales. That's Northern ireland and Scotland not included.
Really. If it was 'only' 30, it wouldn't be that big a problem.
Before anyone gets angry at me: yes, I know, every single one of them is life wrecking a tragedy too much.
But for a society with the population of the UK, 30 in a year would be much different than 30 per month.
Without getting too political, in the UK, the government likes to be seen to be doing something. Usually whatever makes a good soundbite on the evening news, whether or not it is actually a sensible solution that works. We, believe it or not, have knife amnesties. Usually on the TV news, a police officer is shown along side a table covered, to be honest, in what looks like the contents of the average kitchen drawer/workshop toolbox. He says something along the lines of " Look at all the potential weapons we have taken off the streets" Unfortunately, a high proportion of the viewing/voting public are daft enough to think that this will actually reduce knife crime. Well, they say you get the government that you deserve.
all joking aside, it really IS a cultural difference.
Watch the Metropolitan police's anti-knife crime ad | Media | guardian.co.uk
I just watched the above anti-knife commercial, which is apparently british in origin. To me, as a gun-carrying, knife-carrying (since I was 6) responsible citizen, it's absolutely hysterical. I mean, it's like they're trying to be funny.
1. he sticks a paring knife with a naked blade in his waistband. how would you NOT cut your ass when you sat down?
2. did I mention that it's a tiny paring knife? I have a bigger knife in my pocket right now, and carried a bigger boy scout knife with me starting from elementary school on up into college. hell, I loaned it to teachers. no one has EVER cared. before 9/11 I carried a knife with me on planes and no one cared. it's just a tool.
3. the orwellian overtones of the commercial are so overdone it borders on melodrama.
seriously, this is hoplophobia taken to its radical, illogical extreme. a knife is a useful thing. cars are far more dangerous and far more people are killed with them every year. knives have just been propagandized as "scary" for some inexplicable reason.
I really, truly don't get it.
Whilst this thread has turned into a great session of bait the Brits, it has entirely missed the point of the question I asked. I was wondering where us British & Irish shavers would turn to as our primary source of vintage blades, if indeed straight razors are banned by & on the Bay in these Isles.
The knife laws in this country are an utter mess. No argument from me. Every time the crime figures go up, we have a "knife crackdown". It doesn't really affect most people at all, I think it is fair to say. Us shaving loonies are so far outside the politico's target demographic that we do not matter. My perspective is that a knife makes a better tool than a weapon & I, like icedog, would reach for a pool cue over a blade. I just can not see the logic behind potentially handing my adversary a means of attack.
Maybe now is the time to invest in a belt grinder.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike J
Sorry, I meant the 30 teens from the same area...my mistake.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Spike, sorry to jack your thread. The article explicitly mentions sending things as gifts, so that's out. You might be able to get by with "historic instruments" or some such. If it's a real live antique, like most of these are, there might be some loophole.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike J
No wonder the actions of so many governments creates 'conspiracy theories.'
It's hard to imagine they are actually so inept :gaah: but I digress.
As straights are made by 'cutlers' and therefore a cutlery knife they should 'logically' be exempt, but convincing 'Big Brother' may be another thing. I would look at any loopholes re antique collecting that may serve you.
Stupid laws are often flawed in more ways than one.
Hey! I got an idea..... make the punishment fit the crime. :chop:
I'm also very much for an armed citizenry.
Interesting question. I think we all get pretty paranoid about carrying our shavers of choice. When flying, I simply put the razor in the checked baggage, and no worries.
Today, though, was interesting. Because of everything going on at work, I was looking at perhaps having to stay in town to get things done on-time (the Metro in DC stops at midnight).
So I asked the Secret Service detail that staffs our security if there would be a problem if I had to bring my straight in to work.
Imagine the scene. I'm standing in the lobby, talking to the supervisory officer of a team of Secret Service officers, all of whom are standing there with their 9-mm semis on their hips. To his credit, the officer in charge did not laugh. They are, in fact, relentlessly polite. He was quite jovial, however, as he said, "No, sir. I don't think that would be a problem."
I had this sudden vision of trying to storm the building with my little 3-inch Boker. Not a pretty picture.
All a matter of perspective, I suppose.
j
I'm sure you're very terrifying though. And a Boker- who wouldn't run?:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Nord Jim