Downing Street knife crime summit?!?!

[SteelCore]

Dassrite...the boys across the pond, having rid the UK of guns, are now onto 'knife crime,' no joke! Knife crime is ref' in this article. I could not believe it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2055148,00.html

And let me ad this horrid "brady campaign-like" rant:

On the 12th September, 2005 my life changed forever when my Son, Westley was fatally stabbed! He became part of the 'Knife Crime Statistics' affecting 3 times as many families as fatal 'Gun Crimes'. Three fatal shootings with that of 15 year old Billy Cox on Valentines Day 14th February, 2007 quite rightly resulted in an emergency 'Gun Summit'...this is applauded, but lets not forget that 'Knives take lives just as effectively, in the wrong hands!'...yet the legal system treats Knife Crimes less seriously than Gun Crimes? In the last 9 years a total of 2026 people have been stabbed to death...whilst the number of people killed by a shooting totals 601. These deaths should not have happened by either means!
Any parent that has lost a child to a fatal 'Knife' attack or a fatal 'Gun' attack knows all too well...it's the death by a Violent Act, by someone using either weapon that's stolen the 'life' and torn the family's lives apart? It's that needless death that requires 'Justice' in equal terms!
Either weapon is a threat to the safety of the British Public :wtfflag: [a weapon?!?! a knife is a freakin' tool from 100s of thou years ago!!! If yer 'lorry' goes over a bridge and your seatbelt is on, whadday do, use those snaggyl brit teethe to gnaw thru it while you're underwater?]in equal terms. Therefore, to be effective the penalty must be equal, enforceable and certain!
Legislation is needed, so that the carrying of Knives and the use of Knives, along with sentencing policies, are treated on the same terms as Gun Crimes [they're saying that taking guns set precednece to take knives now!]. If using a 'Knife' results in a death...there must be Sentences to reflect the seriousness of taking a persons Life [uh, yeah, the wepon is not the issue, the killer is..duh?!?!]...such as Westley! Murder & Manslaughter whether to a fatal 'Knife' attack or 'Gun' attack, must carry a 'Strong' and equal message of deterrent. The Laws must also be delivered...to give the 'Victims' family Justice and the Public Protection!

Link to rant:
http://www.downingstreetsays.org/archives/003725.html
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Anyhow, once you lose your guns, you lose your knives, your sticks, stones, bows axes garening tools, ballbats, and your freedom.

Sad days in the once mighty UK.

More:

"Councillor Aitken adds: “While Labour are dithering, the Lib Dems have proposed real measures to combat knife crime. Nationally, we want the maximum sentence for carrying a knife to match that for carrying a gun"
link:http://www.ronaitken.com/news.html

That pretty much puts me off from touring britain again...I carry a knife everywhere...I've taken one there in the 80s, to the Bahamas, Iceland, etc, etc...no problem.

[Grasshopper]

I sent this to Downing St.:poke:




Thank God that I live in New England (Unites States)! If a constable walked into my home I'd be thrown in jail for life. My knife collection alone could arm a regiment of Highlander infantry ! I can't begin to tell you, cousins of mine what they'd if they saw that I had 43 firearms, bolt action and semi automatic including hand guns.
It is my opinion that you Brits need to take your freedom back from your corrupt establishment rulers and become the Brits that once ruled the world. With the threat of radicals in your country it is suicidal to be disarmed by your rulers. Who will protect your families and yourselves if the constabulatary is at home trying to keep his family safe. I pray to God that you all wake up over there and demand the return of your firearms and your dignity!

[SteelCore]

Here's round 2, in a BBC article...I bolded the inflammatory words...this article really plays on the 'think of the children' bs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3244709.stm

Is knife crime really getting worse?
By Megan Lane & Brian Wheeler
BBC News Online Magazine

Concern about violent crime in Britain has swung back to knives and their availability to children. But has so-called "knife culture" risen while the media's attention has been so fixed on gun crime?
It's a shopping list likely to send a chill down the spine: kitchen knives, axes, razor sharp "cat skinners" and Ninja-style throwing knives.
Yet these and other potentially lethal weapons can be easily bought by children, according to a new national survey.

Almost half of shops tested broke the law by selling knives to children under 16, according to the Trading Standards Institute. And internet traders are even more of a push over because of the anonymity involved in buying something online.

Sceptics, however, might comment that it has always been thus. There's nothing new about youngsters seeking to boost their street cred by carrying a blade.

It used to be the lore of the playground that flick knives - illegal in the UK - could be effortlessly picked up across the Channel (and so retained a status as the ultimate souvenir from a French exchange trip).

So are we really witnessing a rise in so-called "knife culture" or is the recent coverage afforded to the issue in newspapers just a spot of media hysteria?

Evidence shows knife seizures are on the increase. The number of people convicted of carrying a blade in public rose from 2,559 in 1995 to 3,570 in 2000, according to the Home Office.

Reports from hospital A&E departments indicate a rise in stab wounds, particularly among young men aged between 14 and 25.

One expert with street-level experience is convinced more young people are arming themselves with knives these days.

"Everybody goes to the market and buys kitchen knives - they say they want to use them in the kitchen, but they don't"--Youth club member, John

"We are seeing more and more stab wounds - even five years ago, these were pretty rare. Young males in particular are carrying knives on a daily basis, and if they carry them, they use them," says John Heyworth, of the British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine.

Those young men are often of school age, according to a survey by the Youth Justice Board this year. It found that of the crimes committed by young people, carrying a knife was the most common offence among children excluded from school (62%).

Undoubtedly, the problem is a predominantly urban one. Julie Jacobs, of the Streatham Youth Centre in south London, says some young people begin to carry knives from about the age of 11, when they first begin to venture out of their home patch.

"There is a sense that they need some sort of protection. It is a turf thing, a territory thing, but I don't think it is getting any worse."

So have youngsters themselves seen a rise in knife brandishing?

John, a 17-year-old at the Charter House Youth Club, in Southwark, London, believes the problem is "getting worse" although he does not know anyone who carries a knife.

He was once been threatened by three boys with kitchen knives, while on a bus.

"They were trying to jack me. They wanted my mobile phone and my money. There is nothing that can be done about people getting hold of knives. Everybody goes to the market and buys kitchen knives. They say they want to use them in the kitchen, but they don't."

One 14-year-old from Peckham thinks there's a lot of bluster from kids trying to appear harder than they are.

"I know people who brag about carrying knives. They say they have a great big butcher's knife. People say silly things."

He says a boy at his school was suspended after a knife was found in his bag. But generally, he says, the situation is getting better at his school.

"Maybe one day out of seven someone will say 'give me you money' or something, but I never have been threatened with a knife."

Of those that do brandish a blade, many justify it as in the interests of "self defence", says Unun Seshmi, who runs a charity called Boyhood to Manhood which is dedicated to steering young black people away from crime.

"They are walking around in fear of being stabbed. They feel there is nobody there to protect them. They don't want to go to the police. But they don't want to use the knife either."

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The article assumes that 'carrying' a knife in your pocket is brandishing a knife, and that possession = intent to use it in a 'knife crime.' I think they took lessons from Hitler or Brady Bunch. GUilt by association.

[bullseye]

That is incredibly sad to hear, but we know how to solve the problems. Getting them solved is the hard part because those that make the laws and enforce them are(like here in the US)going after the wrong group of folks. Don't pity them too much, they let it happen, just like we are doing here.

[cimmaronkid]

This is the most absurd thing I have ever heard! Kids in urban and non-urban areas have ALWAYS carried knives. And there have always been turf wars and knives were used in those since people have been living in large cities. Even in our history, the knife was a required item of dress for males in the late 18th-early 19th century and were worn OPENLY to state occassions and were often highly ornate. Sam Colt changed all that as it then became the revolver.

As to carrying a knife at age 11, this kid needs to make up for lost time as everyone I knew had knives in our pockets on the first day we attended grade school and amazingly, no one panicked. There were a few casualities due to cuts from carving the desk tops, whittling, etc., but we knew that a knife was merely a tool to use.

Instead of passing stupid laws that interfer with ownership of items, how about some stupid laws against parents that are to damn dumb or uncaring to teach their children what is wrong and right in life, how to act properly in public, and to respect other people and their property.

[rustypirate]

I totally agree, the problem is not one of more people carrying knives, it is bigger than that.

These folks like many others before them are experiencing urban social issues leading to too many teens our of school, out of work, and truning to gang violence.

go ahead and crack down on knives, and sooner or later you will have a summit on "brick violence".

[LorDiego]

These wacky, wacky Brits..

do you guys remember, about three or four months ago, this Wacky Wacky Britt was arrested at the mall for "carrying a very hard object".

He had a Cricket ball on his hand.

If memory serves me well, the Wacky Wacky Britt policewoman who charged and arrested him said something along the lines of..

"A Cricket ball is a very hard object indeed. If could fall down the escalator and hurt some old lady walking by."

And these people used to rule the world???

[rustypirate]

I know I am going to hear about this one, but her it goes.....

This is what you get for letting a WOMAN run your country.

the downhill slide for GB started with Margret Thacher.

[SteelCore]

Oh, yeah.. I do.

RP: was thatcher that bad? You were over there longer than I was...I thit she was hard-nose Falklands-fightin' woman!

[wonderwolf]

Wow...give it a few more years and the 2 spydercos I have on me will make me a felon in the US....I'm glad they dont mind in college if we carry said items. Though I carry one for work and the other for protection. I almost got suspended because of my knife at my high school. Put on a pair of jeans I had worn over the weekend walked in and felt the spyderco native clipped to my pocket. No big deal just unclipped and put it all the way in the pocket. But somebody saw me with it before I noticed it was their. I went to my locker and with the clever use of a magnet hid the stainless spyderco. I got the pat down. my locker got searched but no knife was ever found. When they asked me if I had any weapons on me I thought better than to ask if my boot laces would count. ( I need to stop reading Applegates book now)

[SteelCore]

"When they asked me if I had any weapons on me I thought better "

-> shoulda said: "What, other than this huge predatorial brain or some bad language?" :)

Or rolled up your sleevs, and flexed your biceps and said, "what you mean other then *these guns?!?!*"

Carried a pucketknife from about 3rd grade on, just never let it show. It was a handy tool. At some unavoidable fights I got into in school, never once went for a pocket knife...fists are much faster! and liberal use of words can often avoid the whole thing altogther.