Intentional Homicide Rate - Who's Worse the UK or the US?

Intentional Homicide rate from Wikipedia

Year 2010, per 100,000

United States 4.8

Unted Kingdom 1.23

I think we've heard just about enough UK comparisons. The pro-gun crowd cannot control themselves from repeating over and over again what they think supports their argument.

There would be many factors to account for this tremendous difference, but for my money, gun availability is one of them.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

Stun Guns - Weapon of Choice in the UK

Sky News reports

Criminals are increasingly choosing illegally-acquired stun guns as their weapon of choice, a Sky News investigation has revealed.

The devices are sold openly on market stalls in the Far East - and some appear to be smuggled into the UK.

I'll bet the use of these little toys is on the rise in the States too. What do you think?

Please leave a comment.

A Different Take on the UK Riots

From comedy central:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sh*tzkrieg - Anarchy in the U.K.
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

If this doesn't play for you, you may be able to watch it at:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/ (Tuesday, August 9, 2011 episode)

Shooting in the UK Leads to Riot

From MSNBC.com and the AP:

Riot, fires break out in north London after protest

Initially peaceful demonstration over fatal shooting erupts into looting, violence

LONDON — Police were in a tense standoff with protesters who burned two patrol cars, set a bus and shops ablaze and looted stores in the gritty north London neighborhood of Tottenham, British media reported early Sunday.

The incidents began Saturday night after an initially peaceful protest over the Thursday fatal shooting of Mark

Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was killed after an apparent exchange of fire with officers.

The protesting crowd swelled to more than 300 outside a police station on High Road and violence erupted, the BBC said. A member of Parliament appealed for calm, but officers on horseback and others in riot gear clashed with hundreds of ­rioters armed with makeshift missiles.

No officers were inside the two patrol cars set upon by the crowd, officials said.

Later, police told NBC News that one officer was hospitalized in seven others were injured in the rioting.

Firefighters initially could not reach a blazing shop blocked by the disorder. A woman who lives above the shop told British TV she was trapped with her baby by the blaze and mayhem. Several buildings were later seen on fire and police tried to clear paths for firefighters.

A post office and supermarket were among the losses, according to media reports.

Stores in the area were looted and people were seen pushing carts full of stolen goods, the Telegraph of London reported. Some of the rioters were said to look as young as 7 to 10 years old. They were fleeing with looted TVs and stereos, the Guardian said.

Hundreds of residents gathered to watch the unrest and there several were reports of attacks on bystanders, the Guardian said. Rioters were seen beating up a man attempting to film the scene.

Crooked Cops - U.K. Style

It's not only the prospect of another Cumbria incident, as Jadegold linked to yesterday, that has the U.K. lawmakers considering stricter regulations, it's the crooked cops.

Of course it's hard to picture a guy who looks like this getting away with anything in the U.S.  Our racial profiling policy sees to that.  The one on the left was the cop turned gangster, the one on the right was the gangster turned convict.

Salim 'Sal' Razaq, 31, became a 'mob boss in police uniform' after assuming control of a drug and dirty money racket when his brother [Hafiz] went to jail over a vicious turf war.

Officers found two Uzi sub-machine guns and a 9mm Sten sub-machine gun hidden in a suitcase under the stairs, when they raided his suburban home.

They also recovered 224 live rounds of ammunition from a shed, £72,000 in cash plus a knuckle-duster, balaclava and bullet-proof jacket.

Inside the house was a 'tick list' of names and amounts of money which police believe refered to drug contacts.

It is suspected he had also been using the police national computer to check on the movements of rival mobsters.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

U.K. Grandmother Sentenced

The BBC reports on the bizarre story of a woman sentenced for possessing a gun in the home. Thanks FishyJay for the tip.

Gail Cochrane, 53, had kept the gun for 29 years following the death of her father, who had been in the Royal Navy.

Police found the weapon, a Browning self-loading pistol, during a search of her home in Dundee while looking for her son.

She admitted illegal possession of the firearm, an offence with a minimum five-year jail term under Scots law.

Cochrane told the High Court in Edinburgh that she had never contemplated she might be committing a crime by keeping the gun or that she might need to get a licence for the weapon.

She said: "I thought it was just a war trophy."

Defence solicitor advocate Jack Brown argued that the circumstances surrounding the case were exceptional and that it would be "draconian, unjust and disproportionate" to jail the grandmother-of-six.

The sentencing, or should I say, hanging judge said she wasn't satisfied with the defendant's explanation and issued the unbelievable sentence of five years in jail. Maybe the judge wasn't familiar with the case we talked about the other day.

Reading the story, I had a couple of questions, though. Isn't it a bit of a spin to call a gun like this a "family heirloom?" That makes it sound like an unworkable piece that belongs in a museum. Actually it was a "Czech-made pistol dating back to about 1927." Aren't some of our favorite guns from that date or even older?

The other thing I noticed is that she kept the gun under her mattress. Now, that sounds odd. Perhaps the judge thought so too. It's hard to believe that a 29-year-old family heirloom would be kept under the mattress all that time.

What's your opinion? Does this story represent everything we fear about UK-style gun laws? Or are there too many discrepancies to use this one as an example?

Please leave a comment.

Trigger Happy U.K. Policemen Return to Duty

The Guardian reports on the decision to allow the Police Officers who killed the Brazilian man in the subway to return to duty.

Scotland Yard will allow two firearms officers who shot and killed Jean Charles de Menezes to return to frontline duties, even though an inquest jury fundamentally rejected their account of the shooting and criticised almost every aspect of the police operation, the Guardian has learned.

Thanks to our frequent commenter Tom for the heads up. I had missed this story, interestingly it does not appear on the BBC, but if you remember we had discussed it before. At that time I referred to these cops as "trigger-happy," and questioned if it was right to only punish their superiors. It now seems clear that is exactly what's happening. But, given the public uproar, and the international attention, the police officers involved may not escape unscathed.

Crucially, the jury did not believe the testimony of C12, the specialist firearms officer who fired the first shot. He said he had shouted the warning "armed police" at de Menezes, and that the Brazilian had stood up and moved towards him aggressively, as if to close down the distance between them. They also rejected the testimony of officer C2, who said he shouted "armed police" as he put his gun to de Menezes' head and fired. None of the civilians in the carriage heard the warnings.

It sounds to me like this is just another example of people abusing their power. I understand the heat-of-the-chase factor and the incredible stress associated with pursuing a possible terrorist, but that's exactly why police officers have to be held to a higher standard. These cops are more culpable than many of the killers we enjoy discussing and dissecting.

What's your opinion? Do you think this has something to do with the general tyranny which is taking over the U.K.? That seems to be Tom's point in commenting yesterday.

If you told people in the UK 20 years ago that their entire lives, from emails to phone conversations would be monitored, down to having the highest number of CCTV cameras per capita of any place on earth after having been forcibly disarmed by their government for "their own good" they would have laughed at you. Where are they now?

I've yet to meet a British person who feels that way. What do you think?

UK DNA Database Shot Down by EU

CNN reports on the EU ruling that prohibits the police in England from keeping DNA samples of suspected persons.

The British police practice of keeping DNA records of anyone they arrest is a human rights violation, The European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously Thursday.

I wondered how this fits into our recent discussions about tyranny coming to the UK. Some of our commenters feel that the draconian gun laws in the UK are a prelude to out and out tyranny. The fact that the police had been building a database of DNA samples, not only of convicted and proven miscreants, but of innocent people exonerated of any guilt, seems to add credence to the theory. Is tyranny coming to the UK?

Like many of our discussions, I think there's a big gray area in this one. How much privacy are citizens entitled to? How much of that would they be willing to give up for increased security? Video surveillance is an example. It's become commonplace, especially in London they say, and we accept it as doing more harm than good. Or, do you oppose the video cameras? Do you oppose DNA databases for criminals? They have a right to privacy too, don't they?

I'm in agreement with the Labour Home site, which says the following about the EU ruling:

In fact it was the unanimous decision of a court of seventeen judges!

This decision is excellent news.

What's your take on it?