Almost Stabbed In Mistaken Attack

[Unstoppable Florence]

Aren't guns banned in Britain anyways?

Like that stops anything

Very true and this is a perfect example.

This.

Was completely misunderstood by me. I thought you guys were of the opinion that guns were unable of stopping anything. Whoops.

No I'm totally against the kind of firearms control we have in the UK. Not only does it restrict legitimate shooters to unbelieveable levels (the UK Olympic shooting team are practising abroad because they aren't allowed even single shot target handguns), it also fails quite miserably at ensuring that those who are given licences are knowledgeable, safe shooters. To get a a firearms certificate you need a 'legitimate reason' which usually means 'I am a target shooter at a gun club.' While a gun club is very unlikely to accept anyone who refuses to learn to be a safe shooter, it does place the responsibility entirely on the gun club and not on the legislature. This is an area that I feel America also gets hideously wrong. A firearm is an incredibly deadly device that should never be used without fairly rigorous instruction. Just type in 'retard' and 'gun' in youtube and you see why America has so many shooting accidents. It's nothing to do with guns being wicked, sinful things; it's entirely down to the fact that in a fair few American states, anyone with a clean record can purchase a gun with no prior experience and training. Can you imagine if they made a driving licence an optional thing?

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

Loving the fairly racist undertones there

Lmao, 'ape' is not in itself a racist term. You ever seen chavs on BMXs? Of course you have, they look like apes. My comment had nothing to do with the race of the assailants. Please be a little more careful before you cry racist.

Anyway, this thread might be derailing just a little bit. Depends if the OP minds up discussing firearms in a thread about a knife attack...

[Major Banter]

Pulling a gun on someone is an immediate, categoric prison sentence of a significant number of years for possesion.

Using a gun is a life sentence. End of. And will most likely get you shot by armed police.

Why is the law so harsh in the UK? I thoroughly recommend reading these articles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre

In my opinion, handguns and rifles are outlawed for a fucking good reason.

Shotguns and bolt-action hunting rifles are designed to kill animals, and are thus obtainable under law. Naturally, neither can you conceal them.

Guns are not toys. They are made to kill things.

Under the new government I'd like to see things change regarding the police; whether that's a moot point we'll have to see. At current, you simply have to get on with it and hope you don't end up in deep shit. I think the firearms argument needs to be dropped.

[Hollow]

Lol, it's definitely not crying racist

In relation to the actual story linked and the context, 'ape' is a racist term, regardless of you meant it like that or not. The way you wrote it just gave off that impression to be honest and my perception and experiences with racial slurs growing up just made me think 'that was a little uncalled for'

But whatever, thread derailment has occurred

Edit: Banter, this new government is going to suck ass so badly it's not even funny.

[Chopium]

My old driving instructor said that if everyone got a gun, everything would be perfect.

[Bema]

Also, I wanted to try and get the footage from the CCTV camera, and others, allowing me to trace him back to his home so there might be chance I could get him arrested. After looking into it, I realised this was more trouble then it's worth due to a whole load of Data Protection and privacy problems, which I respect, but is this the reason that the police can't really use CCTV?

I'm not sure I follow this bit? Are you saying you were trying to get the CCTV yourself? How comes? The Police can - and should. Also this is definatly something that they should persue.

The facts: You were mugged. As far as I know, a mugging is actually classed as an assault regardless of the outcome. Throw in the fact he had a knife and we're looking at attempted assault with a deadly weapon too (obviously don't count on me to get the criminal classifications right!). Finally,you could argue it was a religious hate crime. You were targetted because of your suspected religon. Religious hate crime isn't actually a criminal offence, but it'll weigh heavily into the outcome. In previous cases the prosecution was successfully able to class it as a racially motivated.

You told us the area has a history of muggings that target school kids due to their religion. There's a decent chance this bloke has done this before. Your description, with the aid of the CCTV, would not only help identify him but possibly link him to other attacks.

So yeah - make sure this is followed up.

[Unstoppable Florence]

Well it certainly came out as accusing me of racism. 'I hope that isn't...' or 'I think you might...' is generally a better way of confronting someone on something you aren't sure of. And in the context of the article? No, not really racist at all. The report didn't even state the race of the attackers as far as I recall. As far as I'm concerned they could all have been white.

Banter, those two incidents were seperated by 9 years. 33 deaths (not including the perpetrators) is a horrible number on that I will agree. But when compared to the fact that there were between 49 and 95 fatal shootings per year between 1998 and 2006 (http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/hosb0207.pdf, page 36), it's easier to see the firearms bans for what they really were: panicky, poorly-planned reactions by weak governments trying their absolute hardest to appease their voting base. This is before one considers that crimes involving firearms have multiplied fourfold in that time, and the number of guns on the streets of England far exceeds the number present when the damned things were legal.

Guns are not toys, indeed that's a point I'm trying to make. But they should never, ever have been brushed under the carpet and forgotten about by a culture obsessed with finding the next shitstorm moral panic to complain about.

[mat_de_b]

Also, I wanted to try and get the footage from the CCTV camera, and others, allowing me to trace him back to his home so there might be chance I could get him arrested. After looking into it, I realised this was more trouble then it's worth due to a whole load of Data Protection and privacy problems, which I respect, but is this the reason that the police can't really use CCTV?

I'm not sure I follow this bit? Are you saying you were trying to get the CCTV yourself? How comes? The Police can - and should. Also this is definatly something that they should persue.

The facts: You were mugged. As far as I know, a mugging is actually classed as an assault regardless of the outcome. Throw in the fact he had a knife and we're looking at attempted assault with a deadly weapon too (obviously don't count on me to get the criminal classifications right!). Finally,you could argue it was a religious hate crime. You were targetted because of your suspected religon. Religious hate crime isn't actually a criminal offence, but it'll weigh heavily into the outcome. In previous cases the prosecution was successfully able to class it as a racially motivated.

You told us the area has a history of muggings that target school kids due to their religion. There's a decent chance this bloke has done this before. Your description, with the aid of the CCTV, would not only help identify him but possibly link him to other attacks.

So yeah - make sure this is followed up.

This seems quite logical, but the chance of ever catching someone on CCTV after they have left an event is rather slim (see the bit in superbad where they joke about a semen database)... CCTV already looks like my balls, making recognising someone difficult, and that's before you consider that he probably had short hair and hoody, narrowing it down to half of everyone...

I think running is dangerous business, if someone's hyped up before mugging someone if you start running, they will run fast, and i'm reckoning a bit of animalistic instinct will take over, such that you will end up worse off... I think at the end of the day you just gotta admit you've been had and hand over your phone etc... max 80 squid for a clean bill of health... The OP is actually most unlucky as he had nothing to turn over, which produces a rather awkward situation...

[Hollow]

sigh, for the record I said:
''Loving the fairly racist sounding undertones there''
not
''OMG YOU ARE RACIST WTF''

the guardian: ''the victim was pursued within the Stockwell Gardens estate by a group of between five to seven black males riding pedal cycles.''

mkay, in context I believe.

This is a case of 'be careful of how you write things' on both out parts, and obvious misunderstanding..oh well. There is no need to go further into it.

[pk_hunter]

Guns being legal in the UK is a non-issue.
It's never going to happen, and there's good reason for it.
They're less of a deterrent and more of a means.

This confusingly skewed idea that a rising crime level can be capped by legalising firearms to allow people to "defend themselves" from the criminals is just silly.
"But Huntey," you cry, "Criminals are able to get their hands on guns anyway! So why not just make them available to everyone?"
This point which was made earlier ("Like that stops anything") shouldn't even warrant an answer. Of course it stops the majority of gun-related crime. Look at the statistics. How many gun-related homicides are there in America where guns are legal? Compare that to the number in Britain.
Arming everyone just makes everyone potentially very, very dangerous.
Yes, the occasional criminal has a gun, and yes, we are pretty much defenceless against them, but that's a damn sight better than every criminal having a gun.
"But Huntey, only law abiding citizens with no record can own a gun!"
Right, aye, Ok, because that clearly prevents gun crime in America.

[jgoodroad]

I don't know why, but this brings back memories of my childhood in wales, and I havn't been there since I was a wee lad. back in the early 90s...*remembers fondly*

[pk_hunter]

So fondly you can't spell the name of the country? ;D

[Ennui]

The most compelling argument I see against gun control is if the apocalypse or some other massive-scale breakdown of society occurs, your only hope of survival is to have a gun (or a bunker way out in the middle of nowhere full of all the supplies you need). Otherwise you're just gonna get shot and robbed by someone with a gun. I'm about as liberal as they come and I think anyone should be able to have a gun, even if they are evil, detestable fucking things. Frankly, at least here in the US, I don't think it's even possible to eliminate gun ownership whether legal or illegal, and if the bad guys are gonna have guns I want one too. I was for gun control for years and years but frankly now I think that if the government has guns then the people should too.

Also, if someone breaks into your house and is rooting around your living room trying to steal shit, they are going to get the fuck out real fast if they hear a pump-action shotgun being pumped. Doesn't matter their skin color or what language they speak, that shit's universal. And yes, I realize you're more likely to get shot or stabbed if you attempt to defend yourself, but that's not going to stop me from going all Counterstrike on that shit if I have to. Also where I live there is an outrageous amount of gun violence (lots of gang activity, lots of gun homicides, last week the sheriff was driving around in his cruiser and took gunfire from the side of the street). Whether or not it's the lack of gun control's fault that this is the situation, this is the situation.

I plan on getting a firearm once I'm out of college and in a situation where I can be sure it's locked and safe all the time; I'll probably buy several in my life. Mostly just for the fun of going shooting and the security factor. I won't get a concealed permit or any nonsense like that. I sure do hope to god I never have to use one on a person though.

Also don't tell me you don't want your very own M1 Garand. I would feel like such a badass hunting deer with one of those puppies.

[jgoodroad]

So fondly you can't spell the name of the country? ;D

I am lucky if I spell my own name correctly.

[Terr]

It sounds like the first step is to find out whether you're dealing with people who are looking for a fight versus ones looking for an easy mark.

With the former, you want to be uninteresting, so you don't needlessly provoke or surprise them by showing you can defend yourself unless it gets nasty. With the latter, you should be aggressive early on.

--Terr wrote, from his white-bread suburban cozyland

[cz_squishy]

I plan on getting a firearm once I'm out of college

Same here