Thread: British Law?

Criminals just find new ways of killing each other. I remember when people used to make zip guns and stab each other with sharpened screw drivers. I say just arm everyone like in the old west. I always noticed people were much more polite when everyone was armed.

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Criminals just find new ways of killing each other. I remember when people used to make zip guns and stab each other with sharpened screw drivers. I say just arm everyone like in the old west. I always noticed people were much more polite when everyone was armed.

I like the way MO does its conceal carry. Anyone who has not proven themselves to be a violent murderous dirt bag can carry. If you have a clean criminal record and can pass the CCW class your good. I don't know if I would want EVERYONE to carry. Some folks just are not responsible enough or do not have the self control to handle themselves.

There are a huge number of people in my county who carry and the local police support it. I feel quite safe here. Violent crime is quite low. We do have petty thefts and the occasional burglary but it is rare that a store gets held up and robbed here. Way to many of us rednecks carry in Jefferson County. Makes for an unsafe work environment for the bad guys.

Ray

Originally Posted by RayCover

I like the way MO does its conceal carry. Anyone who has not proven themselves to be a violent murderous dirt bag can carry. If you have a clean criminal record and can pass the CCW class your good. I don't know if I would want EVERYONE to carry. Some folks just are not responsible enough or do not have the self control to handle themselves.

There are a huge number of people in my county who carry and the local police support it. I feel quite safe here. Violent crime is quite low. We do have petty thefts and the occasional burglary but it is rare that a store gets held up and robbed here. Way to many of us rednecks carry in Jefferson County. Makes for an unsafe work environment for the bad guys.

Ray

I'll be getting my CCW for Missouri via Maine in a few weeks.

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Criminals just find new ways of killing each other. I remember when people used to make zip guns and stab each other with sharpened screw drivers. I say just arm everyone like in the old west. I always noticed people were much more polite when everyone was armed.

Roger that! An armed society is a polite society. Stuff like this kinda makes you wonder what's next, outlawing cricket bats? bricks? jack handles?

Do you enjoy posting threads that enable you to get up on your high horse and look down at others?
Do you realize that there are plenty of topics where we could point at you and make fun of how backwards things are in your country?

Matthew 7:3

As far as I understand it in the UK you can carry an edc(every day carry) non locking folding knife with a cutting edge of 3" or less if you have reason to carry it. You can carry a fixed blade of larger sizes if you have reason to carry it. The tricky part is proving reason to carry it of course. Today I went on a hike through the countryside and into the woods with a 4" fixed blade in the pocket of my bergan. If I was pulled up I was going to the woods where I work and use the knife for various outdoors tasks. By rights I should be fine with that.

Common sense is needed as I wouldn't dream of taking the 4" fixed blade to town shopping before going to the woods, that's asking for trouble here. Somebody selling straight razors at a car boot sale or flea market is transporting a non locking razor with the intention to sell and should fall clear of the law.

There are that many laws and a stigma attached to knives that some police officers are uncertain and panic at the thought of anyone carrying any knife for any reason regardless of how small it is. If it came down to it you would have to prove you had reason to carry even the sub 3" knife but I like to think common sense would prevail in a court of law if I was found in posession of my little folder I use for various tasks throughout the day. None of these tasks involve menacing the public or liberating cash from tills in shops or people's wallets so I wouldn't admit to carrying an offensive weapon and hope for the best when further action was taken.

The last thing I want to do is rant about knife laws but I just want to point out how far they have gone to appear to be solving problems without providing fundamental solutions. Knife sales were banned on ebay here a couple years back now apart from kitchen knives. A quick look at knife crime statistics will show a very high percentage of knife crime in the UK is done with kitchen knives due to the easy access to them and the fact they get thrown in a skip or canal after being used maliciously. Nobody is going to wait months and pay top dollar for a custom made knife off someone and go on a spree with it yet the sales of high end custom knives is banned on ebay. Strange decision if you ask me considering you can buy knives on other websites but there is a lot of paranoia here due to the amount of use they get to settle scores on the streets thesedays. Unfortunate but that's the reality.

Fortunately I'm not the type that would arouse any suspicion and have any reason to be stopped and searched for weapons. The above is just what I've read into the knife laws here in the UK, as a maker I'm fairly careful about what I do but I do use and transport knives a fair bit and have yet to have any bother as a result. Things could change but until then I honestly believe the average person with a little folder or even a bigger knife in the right context will be left alone for the most part when they can prove it's being used for a valid reason and responsibly. Don't anyone go quoting me on what I've said about carrying and using knives here as it's just my interpretation of the law, not the actual laws! Insert disclaimer here...

Originally Posted by Bruno

Do you enjoy posting threads that enable you to get up on your high horse and look down at others?

It does get old seeing talk radio stories getting rehashed; I guess there is the option to ignore it though

Originally Posted by Bruno

Do you realize that there are plenty of topics where we could point at you and make fun of how backwards things are in your country?

Matthew 7:3

I'm sure we can count on you to cover that if the need arises

Once again, I've been misunderstood. My intent was not to belittle or gouge anyone else's country. If I came across that way it was not my intention. Believe it or not this was NOT talk radio rehashed. Although I'm a knuckle dragger old GI, I do occassionally have original thoughts. I'm always concerned when a government (American, British, Belgian, Chinese, South African or ANY government) feels compelled to "take care" of the unscrubbed masses. Across the board, in ALL countries, goverments are infringing deeper and deeper into what should be left to individual choices. Some are foolish enough to believe that these efforts are done out of concern for the individual but the truth is that these initiatives more often than not fit into one of two categories. The first is an attempt for the government to take away personal liberty and assert its control on citizens. The second, widely seen in government entitlement programs, is the government's attempt to help themselves to more of our hard earned money and redistribute it to people who have done nothing to deserve it. From where I'm sitting these types of actions amount to tyranny lurking in the carefully constructed lie that our governments gives a damn about any of us. God knows, I'm as patriotic an American as ever lived but let me point out some examples from my own government. The state of New York has decided to fine eateries serving salt. Who the hell are they to tell me how to eat my french fries? The flurry of anti-tobacco legislation is in the same category. If I own a restraunt shouldn't it be MY business if people can smoke after they eat? If others find the environment intolerable, they can take their business somewhere else. And my personally favorite, our First Lady mounts her high horse (with a back yard bigger than most any two women) and attempts to save the poor ignorant masses who still insist that tofu and arugala is NOT a hearty meal. It simply not a government's place to regulate people's lives to that degree. I find laws concerning personal defense (like this one) particularly troubling for two reasons. I promise you this law has NEVER once deterred any criminal from carrying a knife (or for that matter a gun) in recorded history. Ownership of a weapon in Chicago is illegal. So they have no gun violence right? WRONG! Anyone who carries a gun with intent to kill someone has not one concern about breaking a gun ownership law. What if I live in a bad part of London and want to carry a knife for simple self defense? Thanks to laws like this, criminals remain armed and decent people with no intent to harm anyone are required to be defenseless victims.

If you say something, there are 2 things to consider: what you say, and the way you say it.
If you want to start an intelligent discussion, then do so.
The initial post in this thread amounted to nothing more than someone pointing a finger and saying 'haha, they're stupid'

If you don't want to be misunderstood, it's important to consider how you say things.
Btw, this is why on official state visits between heads of state, the various departments of protocol hammer out the practical detail, and why diplomats are often experts on the culture they;re interacting with. It's to prevent the participants from accidentally snubbing each other in front of an audience.

Originally Posted by Bruno

If you say something, there are 2 things to consider: what you say, and the way you say it.
If you want to start an intelligent discussion, then do so.
The initial post in this thread amounted to nothing more than someone pointing a finger and saying 'haha, they're stupid'

If you don't want to be misunderstood, it's important to consider how you say things.
Btw, this is why on official state visits between heads of state, the various departments of protocol hammer out the practical detail, and why diplomats are often experts on the culture they;re interacting with. It's to prevent the participants from accidentally snubbing each other in front of an audience.

I think you are being a tad over sensitive my friend because I do not get any condescending vibes from the original post, I don't feel offended by it, he was simply asking for some opinions from UK residents. The man has even posted an apology (unnecessarily IMHO) there is not one post from anyone in the UK complaining about it, you reside in Belgium so why you are on a high horse over it is beyond me.