Another problem is that 'the good people' aren't responsible enough to look after their fire arms, hence this shooting and a lot of others.
Just listened to an interesting discussion on Irish radio about rural crime. A lot of heat being generated here about marauding gangs travelling from cities like Dublin and targeting wealthy people in outlying areas. It was revealed that 70% of rural households have at least one legally held shotgun on board, yet shooting incidents are almost unheard of. Don't know whether knowing that is going to help me sleep any sounder, I'm firmly in the 30% camp....
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/u...-shoots-grandmother-with-gun-in-car.html?_r=0 Police say a 2-year-old boy found a gun in the car he was riding in and shot his grandmother in the back. The authorities were trying to determine Monday whether to file charges against the woman’s sister, who owns the gun. Capt. Mark Bollinger of the Rock Hill police said the 40-year-old woman is expected to survive. She and the child were riding in her sister’s car on Sunday afternoon when the boy found a .357 revolver in the pouch on the back of the front seat and fired the weapon. Investigators are trying to determine whether the child was in a car seat or if any gun laws were violated. No names were released.
Don't know the equivalent is called in 'Merica but would thought manslaughter as a minimum seems about right
please log in to view this image This statistic has been used by the gun lobby in the US - 'It's not guns that kill people. It's people that kill people'. Doesn't really add up, though, because it's a lot harder to a go on a killing spree with a knife than it is with a gun, and much harder for a 2-year old to stab its grandmother than shoot her. It is a shocking statistic, though. I was out in Eastcote on Saturday watching the rugby and found out the next day that someone had been stabbed to death in a bar 50 yards from where I had been drinking. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-34524850
Rather raises another problem, namely that the UK. is the dangerous crime capital of Europe - with over 2,000 violent crimes reported per 100,000 population. The USA has 466 cases per 100,000 so you can say that the chance of being attacked are much higher in the UK. but the results are more likely to be fatal in the USA.
Mmh perhaps the UK needs to do more with control of knives. I have been surprised that here in Thailand even when ordering meat or fish in a restaurant you aren't normally given a knife, you need to ask for it.
It's not so much the control of knives, as the control of carrying knives. Part of the reason why carrying dangerous knives and their misuse has proliferated is that "stop and search" has been curtailed because there was concern that it might be racially motivated. However, since most of the victims of fatal knife crime in London appear to be young black men (their deaths often gang-related), perhaps the leaders of local black communities should look again at police stop and search, perhaps in a revised form
Not sure that there is much to gain in comparing the UK. with the USA and saying one is 'more violent' than the other. I am 60 times more likely to be shot in the USA. but more likely to be burgled, robbed, knifed, bottled or otherwise assaulted in the UK. Britain also has a far worse relationship to alcohol. If the USA could sort out its gun culture and its racial tensions, and Britain could sort out its yob culture (together with people learning how to drink properly) then the 2 countries could start comparing themselves in more positive things.
May as well put them figures on the politics thread. Very rarely find white British men with a knife.
