Knife Control is coming to Scotland

Post Reply New Topic

http://www.freeliberal.com/archives/001250.html

Wish this were a joke, but sadly it doesn't appear to be.

Having being threatened with knives and carried them myself for protection when i was younger i realise how i could be in jail or dead by now so i am glad that something is finally being done about the knife culture here and the all too common occuranc of "stabbings" etc. All these liberal do-gooders that are against any sort of crackdown on yob culture live in posh areas so dont have to deal with the reality of living in council estates.

Might I ask how you expect a knife ban to stop criminals from carrying knives when criminals don't heed the law? All this will do is make things inconvenient for people who use knives for cooking or what have you.

We have no significant problem with knives here in the states, but then again we have guns. I think the knife problem you have is a symptom of the gun ban... people have no guns to protect themselves so criminals run wild and free with knives.

The law covers things like profesions or geniune reasons to have a knife i believe but there needs to be a bigger detterent on carrting knives. It should be treated as intent to cause bodily harm at least and punishment should be dealt out. I was caught by the police a few times (as a juvenile) with a knife in my possetion and got off scot free. There needs to be real detterents. Alternatively we could go down the route of allowing guns, knives etc and im sure its unlikely people would pull knives on me but there would be a price to pay in that we wouldnt want youngsters dying every week from gunshot wounds like in the Usa.

I thought crime rates were higher in the states in most cities. The murder rate is certainly higher. Im not sure i would be comfortable with myself or everyone else here having a gun in their posession. Im not sure i would still be here if that was the case.

Last edited by eamonn on 08 Aug 2005, 8:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well at least you can still spread you bread and butter.

With knife bans, bans on religious groups preaching hatred, etc, we should be a very peaceful country soon. Sadly the old religious divide is to be left out of this and the new law only applied to "foreign" religions (?).

Crime rates and Murder rates may be higher here, but when you study the crime rates here you will understand that most of the crime here is drug or drug activity related. --Gangs are the biggest culprits of these crimes, as are users who need to support their habits.

That being said, I would like to see penalties made much stiffer for the importation and distribution of "Hard" drugs like Cocaine and Heroin. I would also like to see some legalisation and regulation of the use of "Club Drugs" like Ecstasy, and GHB, and to some extent LSD.

On the other hand, I would also like to see pot legalised and regulated much the same way that alcohol is. --Even though I havn't touched the stuff in 15 years, I think that people are adult enough to make their own decisions as to whether to use it or not.

If all of the above happened, you would see a great drop in Gang activity, due to the fact that they would be deprived of income. Conversely, people using drugs like Pot, Acid and Ecstasy would be gauranteed to a cheap, legal, and clean supply of those drugs.

From what I understand, Pot can now go for up to $400 or more per ounce. Ecstasy can sell for up to $25-30 per Tab.Imagine how that market would change if you could go down to the local Liqour store and pick up a an ounce of pot for little more than you would for a few packs of Cigarettes? Or if you could get legal club drugs for a little less than a beer at a nightclub? --Gangs would have to resort to other activities. Or turn to much harder drugs, but would have to be much more cautious do to greatly amplified penalties.

I really don't know what the situation is like in Scotland, but I would think that the real issue isn't knives at all, but how people behave with them. It would be much more effective if society as a whole understood what causes people to resort to violence in the first place, and find ways to curtail this at the root, instead of resorting to cheap legislation which won't really solve the problem?

It may cost more in the short term, but the long term results would be much more beneficial. --Sadly I can't think of any government offhand that's attempted this.

Furthermore, I carry a pocketknife all of the time. I do not consider it a weapon, or protection at all. I merely see it as a useful tool that I like to keep handy in case the need to cut strapping or open a package arises. Fortunately, I've never had to explain to the police here why I carry one. --Besides, it's the last thing that I would want to use in a confrontation.

Last edited by Fogman on 08 Aug 2005, 3:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

That's just one more reason I'm proud to be an American!

Maybe society should try to understand what causes people to turn to violence but should we allow the gangs to go about with knives without punishment? I dont think so. Luckily some judges have started taking the problem seriously and knife carrying is going down slightly. In my area there are teenagers doing crimes all the time and the touchy feely judges and childrens panel are doing very little to stop them even when they are caught. As far as legalising drugs goes im not so sure as ive seen heavy cannabis users develop psychological conditions and regular use of ecstacy has done so too. There is a human cost to overexposure of these drugs as well.

Last edited by eamonn on 09 Aug 2005, 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What reason? All the chidren that die with gun wounds so that big kids can play cowboy. Pathetic.

I;ve bene a gun owner and target shooter my whole life, Mysteriously Ive caused no deaths.

Start punishing criminals instetead of attacking citizens.

Well I'm horrified. Cheap legislation is our Governments chief tool for dealing, with everything, with "targets" coming a close second. Would you really take this away from us?
Seriously, there is no effort made to look at the roots of problems, everyone wants to do whays easiest for them. If folk here in Scotland didn't have knives then they would use something else. Glasgow had a reputation for using knives years before it became fashionable elsewhere in Scotland, They also had the "Glasgow kiss" which involves propelling your skull into someone elses at speed.
It's the same thing with drugs gangs anywhere, get rid of some and more step in. Taking the market away is the only sure cure, and we are quite fond of our population. At the moment we are paying the price for Afghanistan, tons of cheap heroin coming in. The suggested short term cure is bombing the poppy fields and long term to get the farmers to grow something else.
Is there anyway to control these things without having everyone under constant surveillance?

*stabs Sean with a bread and butter knife*

You need to look at the big picture Tak. Just because you havent caused any deaths doesnt mean they arent happening. There is a lot of deaths of innocent people in the usa due to the high gun ownership. Do you think your hobby is more important than lives? Couldnt you just use air rifles or paintguns or something?

Last edited by eamonn on 08 Aug 2005, 6:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

If you come up with a better idea let us know. Until then i support moves to clamp down on knife culture with surveillance. The crime on my street sure dropped when CCTV cameras got installed recently. Also what else would they use that is commonplace in scotland as small, deadly and as well concealed as knives?