In Denmark freedom is not restricted, but we have seen more gun related crimes lately.
Lars
Not to mention submarine related violence... :wink:
In Denmark freedom is not restricted, but we have seen more gun related crimes lately.
Lars
Dan, you are correct as to what triggered this law proposal and that there is a problem to be solved. But kids can not really order a knife on internet - they either grab something at home, or their parents find it ok for them ti have one and carry it whenever they like.
Yes. I've long been a proponent of making ammunition as expensive as f@ck. Yes, I know you can make your own bullets, but tax the he!! out of the raw materials needed. Require gun powder purchasers to be registered and track quantities. It can be, and is, done with other chemicals deemed to be dangerous. Try buying certain kinds of cough syrup for example. Hasn't totally eliminated the home meth labs, but it has made a dent in production.
Yes, American's are in love with their guns and a majority will fight to the death for their right to own them. But they are useless without ammo.
In IL you can get get three .4 S&W for the same price as one cigarette. Hmmm. Seems prices have gone up. Last time I posted that statistic is was about 8 bullets to one cigarette. Guess which one will kill you faster?
And it isn't a new problem. I remember a high school teacher who worked in England telling me similar stories 15 years ago. So 20 to 25 years since he was in England.Important to remember that, however stupid and ineffectual the proposition that is the subject of this thread might be, it is designed because the problem is exactly knife crime amongst minors. And in parts of the UK it is a real problem.
My wife worked for some years in an inner-city primary school (4-10yrs) in S London. Confiscation of knives was something they had to do, perhaps not often, but maybe a couple of times a term/semester. 4-10 year old kids. Think about it. We are not talking about "freedom" or any of that political flim-flam, we are talking about little kids who are ready to kill one another.
The British government has proposed changes to UK knife law banning the shipping of knives bought online. Instead, online consumers would have to collect in person.
http://news.sky.com/story/online-kn...new-restrictions-as-crime-rate-rises-10952288
I am all for any regulation that makes sense. The problem is, laws such as this one tend to inconvenience good people while having little or no effect on the intended target.
The pool analogy may not be a good one, but, at least here in the states, no one regulates backyard pools. It is truly sad when a child drowns in one, but I still think people should be allowed to have them.
You totally make sense and I agree with your premise. If said two year old could simply step over or around the fence, the regulation would serve no purpose other than to inconvenience the home owner. Regulation such as proposed would do little to keep a 17 year old from finding a knife, in much the same way how regulations do little to prevent the same 17 year old from possession of alcohol of marijuana.Regulation can be made to work reasonably smoothly but also have a beneficial effect. Particuarly where the regulation provides an expertise-based (or even better, an evidence-based) guide as to what is considered a minimum safety standard (which might otherwise be difficult for the average punter to work out).
Locally, there are regulations around the fencing required when you put a pool in. It can be (and was for us) a little bit of a fiddle to get the fence set up with proper clearances but once you've done it, its set and forget. And you know that your (or someone else's) 2 year old won't be found floating face down in the pool while you weren't looking.
Dare I eve go a step further and ask why is seems excessive violence is more prevalent in some countries as opposed to others? I'm in the US and we're pretty bad, I admit. Yes, in general it seems to be less prevalent in suppressive countries (communist, authoritarian regime, etc) but I hope that's not the only answer.
Violence and anti social behavior is very limited in Singapore, but in general I don't think individual freedoms are all that restricted? I'm pretty sure they aren't in Denmark and New Zealand where I don't hear about a lot of violence.
Whish I had an answer.
I think that this is an important issue in the whole debate around violence and weapon regulation.
In Aus, there are uniform strict gun laws and violence is pretty low key. And gun violence is very rare. Cause and effect? Probably much more complex than that. However, since the ban on auto and semi-auto firearms came into effect (around 20 years ago), there have been zero mass casualty shootings in this country.
Do I feel the need to carry a weapon for personal defence in Aus? No. And I like it that way.
Would I if I lived in USA? Not sure. Maybe. If I lived parts of Centeral America or Africa? From what I've heard, probably.
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