Saturday, December 5, 2015

As if to echo this morning's post . . .


. . . this happened today in London, England.

A man was stabbed in the ticket hall at Leytonstone station this evening by another man who witnesses say shouted "This is for Syria" as he slashed his throat.

Another three are thought to have been injured.

Police said they used a taser on the suspect as he threatened others with a knife, before they managed to arrest him.

The victim was rushed to hospital in a serious condition with multiple stab wounds, paramedics said.

There's more at the link.

In England, one has no choice but to go about unarmed.  Their laws make it almost impossible to defend oneself, and ensure that one's almost certain to be charged with a criminal offense if one does.  If that attack had happened in my city, it would probably have been over almost before it started, with the perpetrator lying on the ground, bleeding from several (probably fatal) bullet holes.

It no longer matters where you live - what country, what city, what neighborhood.  The danger has spread everywhere.  As I said this morning, be prepared and equipped to defend yourself at any time, in any place.

In that light, I was astounded when I dropped in at the monthly gun show at the local fairgrounds this morning.  It was absolutely jam-packed.  I've never seen so many people there, nor seen such brisk demand for firearms - mostly of the defensive variety.  Judging from comments I overheard, part of the crowd was there due to an attempt by fairgrounds administrators to shut down gun shows at that venue;  but most of them were there in reaction to the San Bernardino terrorist attack, coming as it did on top of the Paris atrocity.  I'd assumed that most people in this area were already equipped with defensive firearms, but many of them either were not (yet), or wanted an extra one or two 'just in case'.  The NICS background checks were anything but instant, as the system was simply overwhelmed by the demand.  Delays of up to an hour were being reported.  If that holds true across the country this weekend, I think it'll be a new record for firearms sales.

(And yes, there were dozens - scores - of private sellers and buyers, happily doing business with each other, cash on the barrelhead or trading one gun for another, without a background check in sight.  That's as it should be in a free society.  Long may it continue!)

Peter

4 comments:

Old NFO said...

And ammo is right behind it...

m4 said...

For all the shit we give Barack Gunbanner about taking (y)our guns away, he seems to have overseen some spectacular gunsale growth.

shugyosha said...

Regarding England: Weapons laws are off the charts, from a US POV. But self defense can even be preemptive, legally. I'd have to bungle an explanation. You might be better asking

https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-cooper-87a4268

Or Peter Consterdine, for another (rougher) example.

If not, I'll try to check my notes, but he's better.

Then, as said, sure, weapons in the UK are a mess. However... take off (only a moment, really) your gun and your knife. Have, say, your wife hold them for a second. How many easily weaponizable tools are you carrying? How many are within instant reach? How many could be carried in the UK?

Take care.

Uncle Lar said...

Sadly, I see a recent report that the powers that be have knuckled under to pressure from the anti gun bigots and will no longer allow gun shows at the Nashville fair grounds.
Remember that they are as determined and unrelenting as rabid zombie ducks, nibbling away at our rights in every way and at every opportunity that presents itself.
After the 1994-2004 AWB debacle the progs learned that further legislation at the national level was a non starter. Democrats paid a huge price, particularly in southern states, over that bit of down our throats oppression. So now they chip away at the state level, or through nuisance lawsuits, phony polls and studies, fake statistics, anything to oppose free exercise of our God given and Constitutionally recognized right to self defense.
Really rather pleased to see that Ms. Clinton has apparently forgotten that lesson. I do not care who her opponent turns out to be, if you vote for her or fail to vote against her what comes next lies on the heads of each and every voter who makes that mistake.