I thought guns were banned in England??

[Nitrous]

Interesting.. so these people must have gotten their hands on long guns then... but the shootings are in London.. How the heck are they carrying around these big guns to rob people with?? Long coats? lol
Unless they can get their hands on illegal handguns too... most likely...

Um.... robbing people is illegal. I don't think criminals worry too much about what is illegal. That would involve forethought, which they typically do not do. Otherwise, they'd think "Wait... we could go to jail for years, in exchange for rolling the dice on a few Euros. Maybe we should not do this."

Only law abiding people can't have guns. Everyone else? For them it's fine.

Only the victims are unarmed, in England.

 

[Nitrous]

What?? The cops cant carry them? Wow...

Yes, they can. The "Bobbies" do not carry guns. The police do. The Bobbies are more along the lines of security guards and information stations. The police? Quite well armed, indeed.

 

[Nitrous]

Do a Google search for the words "British police officer gun" and click up in the upper left, on [images]. I am nto sure if it will show up on the "new" BYC, but here's my attempt at a link.

 

[Highlander]

Quote: The old stereotype of the British Bobby that patrols the streets on his bicycle giving cheeky young urchins a clip round the ear doesn't exist any more. The police is the police is the police. As Newfoundland said, there is a firearms unit that can be called upon when needed and all airport police officers are armed, but otherwise the police in the UK do not carry guns. They have batons, cuffs and CS spray.

 

[desertdarlene]

But it seems that just about everyone has one. I have to wonder about that "Fast and Furious" program. The cartels have this "Plata o Plomo" policy. Government officials either get the silver or a lead bullet. The inclination is to take the bribe.

Again, I have to wonder who in our government took the silver? Just how high up in the system does the corruption go? I can't imagine anyone in government making the kinds of decisions that were made in that program.

Rufus

Yeah, I guess citizens can get them, but getting one is supposed to be really restricted and controlled by the government and the army. A lot of the criminals get theirs smuggled in from other countries.

 

[chickened]

Adequate punishment is the actual deterrant to crime. If I have a pistol on my hip people think twice about robbing me.

The UK is actually a socialist welfare state for the most part and have given away most of thier rights in exchange for security from a collective. We fought a war to escape that society and now some want it back. American citizens sent guns to the UK relatives during WWII.

They usually help, though.

 

[newfoundland]

Couldn't disagree more Chickened. The Government of UK is a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition not Socialist. No rights have been given away, since the citizens did not have those rights to start with. (I am assuming we are talking about the right to own hand guns.) You make welfare sound like a dirty word and I know in US it means living on benefits. Here it has a completely different meaning. A welfare state is one where the well being of the citizens is provided for by the regular collection of taxes which can then be used to support those going through hardship. Others were also involved in WW2, I don't believe they feel that all they fought for has been squandered away by a frivolous society and a deceitful government.

 

[redhen]

Owning a hand gun is illegal in the UK, but sadly it does not stop criminals from getting their hands on them. Shootings are relatively rare and generally confined to young gang members.

It is legal to own a shot gun and/or rifle if you have a proper permit issued by the police, who come to your home and interview you as well as inspecting the locked cabinet in which guns must be stored and the ammunition kept locked separately. Pistols can only be kept at gun clubs and not in the home. These are only permissible for sporting purposes, targets etc.

Police are not generally armed, I believe about 10% belong to what we call firearm units. They have truncheons and pepper sprays. Following the gunning down of policemen, there is often a debate as to whether they should be armed. Neither the public nor, more importantly the police themselves seem to want to go down that road. Most people believe that too much damage is done to society by the so called gun culture.

Yeah, that show is quite interesting...
LOTS and lots of stabbing wounds too.... but still I was surprised to see so many gun shot victims too...

 

[redhen]

There are some strange anomalies in the law, it is true. Having said that, I have never seen silencers for sale in UK or Europe. I think the situation is that guns are not generally owned in UK.Most people, me included have absolutely no experience of them. The difference between the UK and the US is that we have no written constitution, much less any legislation that gives the citizens the right to bear arms. As I understand it the law has dealt with felons since medieval times. Most towns employed a constable in those days, and the High Sherrif was responsible for keeping the King's peace. It is an historical fact that ordinary citizens have never been armed. I personally think it is not something I would want to see on our streets. There is too much danger of innocent people being caught in the crossfire for one thing.

What??! LOL, the citizens of England are most certainly armed....and always have been..
when they wanted to riot at the kings door they brought their swords, axes, knives, ...etc...
Now they are armed with mostly knives..it seems.. still very deadly, from what I see in this ER show...

 

[redhen]

There was one show where the head nurse was talking about how the gang members come in to finish off a stabbing victim and they just told her to get out of the way or she'd be next...
they sound almost as dangerous as the US. LOL
..Except we can carry guns here and shoot 'um back...