Wow I wasn't aware of that. It has to be differences in culture. They'd (being the governmnet) would never get away with that here. And I'm amazed after finding that out that there arent gangs who have them!

tbh we don't seem to need/want them much - I know of one handgun, and that has been stored in oil for over 50 years, though there are any amount of shotguns about (I live in a fairly rural area)

I think that shooting them in the kneecaps might be a more effective deterrent.

And I'm sure that you won't complain when your insurance premiums go up to compensate.

Oh, did you think that the insurance companies are in it for the benefit of the greater good?

And they're an integral part of the marriage ceremony! :D

my insurance goes up whatever happens

I don't believe shooting people is the answer to any issue / problem (unless they shoot first)

Its fairly common to have a riot exclusion in retail insurance stuff. Some will be insured, most I fear won't.

"Understanding why this happened is different to justifying it" on sky news - Good point, that.

Papers are reporting that Met must legally pay compensation from reserves. It'll still come from us eventually, of course, but the route is different.

That's good.

 

Mikee: I told Skynews to say that, as per my post earlier in this thread.

Sky news told me to tell you there's been sunshine across the UK today but it's a very different story tomorrow- quite wet and very windy.

 

Some very heavy bursts of rain, temperatures down to 9-14. There will be a gusty wind developing.

 

That's it from me, bye for now.

Tell Skynews to go suck a bag of dicks.

Better not be over Birmingham

http://www.okmagazine.com/2011/08/hulk-hogan-talks-london-riots-on-bbc-radio-ill-body-slam-the-youth/

That's the spirit Hulk Hogan

Again with good light/bad light! Who cares? I think burning down other peoples' shit shows them in a pretty bad light to start with but, again, that's not the point.

Also what Milko said.

Guns are fun, that's for sure. But I don't want people here owning guns. But then we don't have a history and culture of needing/using them to survive so it's hardly surprising. I think Manthorp summed it up well. But I'll add that it's a real shame that gun control is a partisan issue over there, it pushes the whole of your politics to the right by forcing people who only agree with Republicans on gun control to vote that way.

As for the fun thing... I'm pretty sure detonating nuclear devices would be fun and the media informs me that small ones can be made with household items. I can perfectly well imagine a culture where their use was culturally and historically ingrained. I wouldn't want one though, and I don't want other people having them. That's pretty much how guns look to us.

A gun and nuclear weapon are a pretty far stretch man.

But that's kind of the point I was trying to make. Guns don't just need to be used as a weapon they can be a deterrent as well. Kind of like the arms races were in the cold ward days.

If you know someone has a weapon, be it a gun or bomb you would be less likely to do something to that person compared to the person you were sure didn't have one.

Nope, I'd go for the one with the weapon, because:

1) if I didn't he might pull the weapon on me when I went for the other guy

2) once I beat him, I'd then have a weapon to use on the other guy

It's not really a far stretch for us. I mean gun to us is like nuclear device (I mean just a little one, like the battlefield nukes we all deny using in every modern conflict despite the suspicious radiation levels near the sites of explosions which look very much like small nukes) to you.

A gun's (handguns and assault weapons) only purpose is killing people. We don't like that, we just have an cultural block against things like that. I'd rather not go out each day with a tool solely designed for killing people because of what that would say about me. The selfishness/self-centredness that would represent. Historically we're less individualistic and a bit more communally minded over here and I think that matters too.

It's different over there - I also think the sneering attitude some anti-gun people have towards those who like guns is disgusting. We have to accept that it's a cultural thing and culture is a powerful thing.

But yeah, it's exactly like the arms race. I mean, if I'm in a fight and I'm in a situation where I value my safety over that of the person attacking me then if they have fists I want a knife/stick. If they have a knife I want a gun. But when everyone has a gun we're all just hoping no one shoots.



I'd rather they be less likely to do something because their culture dictates that hurting people is a bad thing to do. If we've lost that then I don't really think it matters what they come at me with. I still believe that hurting people is bad so I'd rather not be tooled up to hurt people.