Almost Stabbed In Mistaken Attack

[MNM]

Aren't guns banned in Britain anyways?

Like that stops anything

[staberas]

learn some Krav Maga

[Unstoppable Florence]

We had a pair of Police Officers come into our 6th to give us a lecture on knives. The content of the lecture was essentially: 'This is what knives do to people *shows horrendous pictures, audience recoils in horror* and therefore you shouldn't carry them because they are very very bad.' So now that he had us all suitably worried about the possibility of being stabbed, he then went on to say that knives are not defensive weapons (very good point) but then failed to tell us what the flying fuck we could possibly use to defend ourselves with if attacked.

Bottom line is, he only reinforced the common perception that the police really are not capable of dealing with situations like this, and that the average citizen of this country instantly becomes a criminal when they try to defend themselves.

These are the legal options that a UK citizen has when violently attacked:
1. Run (often not possible)
2. Fight back with whatever comes to hand (can become a grey area)
3. Stand there and take it

That's it. I'd like to make it very clear to our non-UK chums: it is illegal to carry any form of weapon or self-defense implement, and for a while it was a legal grey area to even defend yourself in your own home. This is why rising violence in the UK is so terrifying to us. Pepper spray is in the same legal category as an M60 or a Carl-Gustav. A freaking length of wood is an offensive weapon. Where I live is a town of 3500 people and it has a solitary police station which is manned for 2 hours every Thursday. I shit you not, the nearest manned station is 8 miles away and I highly doubt it contains anything other than a few pen pushers.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread slightly, but I think I need to make it clear to some of the non-UK residents here how bad it is becoming in the UK. Jesus, I live in the safest part of the UK, and I feel safe only because of the lack of criminals, not because I feel the police would be able to help.

[Ich 666]

Best thing to do is not to carry any "firepower" with you but dont go alone through areas where you know its not safe. try to avoid dangerous looking persons and groups and try stay in crowds of people as much as possible.
If you got mugged by those guys then go to the police.

[MáØ]

Best thing to do is not to carry any "firepower" with you but dont go alone through areas where you know its not safe. try to avoid dangerous looking persons and groups and try stay in crowds of people as much as possible.
If you got mugged by those guys then go to the police.

Where is "not safe" these days? A guy here got shot outside of city hall last year! In broad daylight I might add.

[Ich 666]

Where I live is a town of 3500 people and it has a solitary police station which is manned for 2 hours every Thursday. I shit you not, the nearest manned station is 8 miles away and I highly doubt it contains anything other than a few pen pushers.

Yeah thats a real problem. Im in a 3500 people village and we have no police station (only in the next town) and 2 patrols for 38 villages. And if something happens and i call the police they wont be there in 5 min but in at least 15min which can decide on wether a situation escalates or not.

[Pwnd_Ja]

The kid would be hunted down and killed if he pulled that shit where I live. There really aren't too many muggings here though, because most people know better than traveling alone; safety in numbers. As far as weapon laws go here, it is legal to carry a knife so long as the actual blade is no longer then your index finger (From the joint to the tip, not all the way down to the thumb area) but that just means bigger guys can carry bigger knives . Gun laws are pretty tight (Loose compared to the UK though.) You need a license to carry a gun, and to get the license you have to have a clean record and have no mental illnesses that could lead to suicide/homicide (Severe depression, schizophrenia, etc etc. The major shit.). And even after that, you can get a "higher" license that allows you to carry a concealed weapon. And of course there is the basic license that allows you to have a gun in your house (Which I approve of because it is essentially self defense only. Or domestic violence.). So anyone of age could "pack heat" legally.

As far as the camera bit goes, they tried that here. People starting stealing the cameras so they set up cameras to watch the cameras and the entire time there is a drug deal going on where the camera watching a camera can't see.

[staberas]

1. Run (often not possible)

THIS . always work (why not possible florence? you try to outrun a guy with a knife not a gun..)

[Ich 666]

Where is "not safe" these days? A guy here got shot outside of city hall last year! In broad daylight I might add.

Not safe is where you know there are gangs and crimes going on. i would consider city hall usually pretty safe but things happen. ah and dark train stations with little possibilities to escape arent safe.

[Unstoppable Florence]

1. Run (often not possible)

THIS . always work (why not possible florence? you try to outrun a guy with a knife not a gun..)

Oh there's nothing wrong with running. If you are pretty fast and the assailant jumped you in an open area, you can peg it. But there are some considerations: Where are you going to run to? What if the guy turns out to be faster? What if you just end up running into deeper shit?

Those three are very big problems, and that's long before you even think about what to do if you aren't fast/are disabled/have a leg injury. And then there's the fact that someone truly detirmined to do you in will probably jump you when you are backed into a corner or surrounded. And what about that kid in the story that Banter linked. He was gunned down by some apes on BMXs, now there's a happy thought.

[Gary]

[...]
If you got mugged by those guys then go to the police.

Okay, so when I am being mugged, I'll ask the mugger politely if he could wait, while I go get the police.

Aren't guns banned in Britain anyways?

Like that stops anything

Very true and this is a perfect example.

[Unstoppable Florence]

While obviously guns in the hands of nubcakes who don't know what they are doing is always a bad thing, does anyone else get the feeling that the number of cases where guns made a positive change is actually higher than reported?

If you defuse a mugging by showing a firearm, are you really going to bother reporting it? And if you use a firearm in a situation that came to blows, are you that likely to own up, even if it was in self defense?

I'm not suggesting that letting everyone pack heat is a good thing, just that there might be a side to it that people don't see. Feel free to correct me if you have any facts or anecdotes.

[Gary]

Your basically saying that even if you did have a gun, if you don't know how to use it, it might end up casing problems as well?

I agree, but that doesn't mean we should ban them all together, as then, people that do know how to use them properly won't be able to legally own one.

[Hollow]

I've had people attempt to mug me, and probably not the best advice to give you, but in each situation I've had, i stood up to them. Though i haven't had a knife pulled on me, I seem to go for the 'fight' instinct rather than 'flight'

I live in a pretty rough area, someone was killed like last week and police cars hurtle by every day, typical inner city disturbances really. It can all depend on what you look like and what you wear, in terms of being a potential target. I'm a pretty tall guy and usually wear hoodies/jackets if i'm out at night so I don't seem to get much attention from assholes. Not that I'm implying I'm a tough guy by any means, but appearances do play a part in people's perceptions

You just have to be alert and cautious about your area, make sure you travel with friends if you don't feel safe. Muggings usually happen in groups amongst young people so It's a very odd case that this guy tried to rob you on his own in broad daylight.

He was gunned down by some apes on BMXs, now there's a happy thought.

Loving the fairly racist sounding undertones there

[Dionysos]

The best form of defense is a) not getting into the situation and if that's impossible b) being fit and trained. Either being able to run fast and/or knowing some proper self-defense/fighting sport. To use a knife defensively against someone else attacking you with a knife you have to be very well trained, and most just aren't. EDIT: Add appearance like hollow said coupled with plain old confidence.

It's a shiddy situation, and I think it's becoming more and more widespread in the EU: the number of unnecessary (hand holding) regulations is increasing and the individuals rights and responsibilities are being taken away and people are treated like children. I'm not saying give everyone a hand gun, but outlawing pepper spray? The police have more to do, fewer people to handle it and usually the pay is bad. All the while politicians go on ignoring the causes of the problems and fight the symptoms with empty phrases and abuse them to introduce more restricting laws or industry-friendly legislation. Everyone's losing their common sense of reality.