Village Voice Blames Right Wing Blogosphere Over British Riots
The Village Voice’s column Exploring the Right Wing Blogoshere claims “Rightbloggers Find the Cause of England’s Riots: Gun Control and Black People.” That seems like twisted logic obviously, but the Village Voice offered this thought:
“Several rightbloggers were swift to blame gun control for the riots. True, gun-shy England’s murder and gun-related-death rates are much lower than gun-crazy America’s — even the hardcore Gun Owners of America argued in 2008, when confronted with this fact, that ‘the murder rates in many nations (such as England) were ALREADY LOW BEFORE enacting gun control.’”
So what is the Village Voice saying? It was true that England’s murder rate was already low before. Second, one aspect of England’s gun laws that are seldom addressed is that for centuries the military regularly marched through the streets of London. OK, they maybe in fancy dress uniforms but you think those guards at the palace only have guns for show? There are also now armed police – in less fancy uniforms but with deadly serious machineguns – at Parliament, at 10 Downing Street and elsewhere.
The other point missing in the Voice’s loud mouth coverage is that gun crime is on the rise, and criminals are smuggling in guns. The point here is that the criminals could outgun the police and the public. Shouldn’t the public have the opportunity to fight back, especially since they don’t have fancy dress guards at their door?
MICHAEL KRYZANEK: U.S. could learn from other nation’s gun policies
Writing for the Patriot Ledger, Michael Kryzanek, executive director of the Center for International Engagement at Bridgewater State University, offers an interesting commentary on international gun laws. He writes that the United States could learn from other nation’s gun policies. He cites examples in England, Canada and Australia.
But what about Nazi Germany? What about the Soviet Union? How about North Korea or Cambodia? How about China as an example? China today has laws that ban individual gun ownership, but yet criminal syndicates not only have guns but they have gun making factories that churn out AK-47 clones!
And how about Mexico? That one seems surprising to leave off the list. Private gun ownership is tightly controlled in Mexico, and yet the criminals there have no problem getting guns.
Did banning alcohol turn the United States dry in 1919? That didn’t seem to work. So why would gun control?
BBC: Guns as Easy to Get as Groceries
Don’t we hear all the time how countries with tougher gun laws have less crime, and fewer shootings? Doesn’t the mainstream media in America note this all the time? Well, the BBC has an interesting story that debunks that opinion.
In a story about gangs and guns, one youth was quoted:
“Getting hold of a gun now is just as easy as walking into a shop and buying groceries.”
Not exactly the image that’s been painted in America about the U.K. But the truth is that gun crime is on the rise, despite the fact that public gun ownership is actually quite low. We fear this could be a future in America if the anti-gun zealots have their way. Guns will still be easy to get, as long as you’re willing to break the law.
Gun Collecting: Japanese Rifles of World War II
Type 38 "Arisaka" Rifle
Japanese rifles often get a bad rap, at least when compared to the rifles of the other major combatant powers of World War II. Even collectors of militaria view the Japanese rifles as being of a lower quality, but this isn’t quite true. One reason for this misconception is that much of what survived, and is now in collections is actually from the later war years, thus not up to the highest quality.
“The fit, finish & overall quality of manufacture on early Japanese weapons equals if not surpasses weapons made by other participants of World War II,” explains advanced Japanese militaria collector Jareth Holub. “It wasn’t until the very last two years, due to U.S. air strikes, that factories started producing subpar products.” Read more
Rick Steves Offers Insulting Anti-Gun Rant
Travel guru Rick Steves should stick to talking about travel. It must be very nice to be flown around the world (first class likely), stay at five star hotels and be treated like royalty wherever he goes. This no doubt explains why the PBS travel host has become so hateful of his homeland.
In the past we’ve seen him appear on PBS fundraisers – and don’t get us started on the fund raisers, does PBS really need to beg for money from “viewers like you” when they have just as much corporate sponsorship as any network? At least with network TV you know the ads are really ads. Anyway, back to our point. During these fundraisers Steves encouraged Americans to travel more, to learn about other cultures and not to be (in his words) so “xenophobic.” But he shows his hatred of America in a recent blog post titled “Travel Alert Issued: 500 Americans Will Be Killed by Guns This Week in the USA. For Safety’s Sake, Leave the Country Now!” Read more
CNN’s Roland Martin Calls to “Whack the 2nd Amendment”
In an editorial Roland Martin, CNN political analyst, takes aim at the issue of the illegal aliens, and how this relates to the 14th Amendment. He tries to imply that those on the right are looking to repeal the 14th Amendment completely, and he goes on a tirade of sorts, in which he suggests that we “whack the 2nd Amendment.” But we don’t think he’s joking, or just trying to make a point. He seems to be one of those out there liberals that seriously believes that this amendment has to go. Read more
Mirror UK Says You Can’t Trust Men With Guns
In an editorial for the Mirror UK, Paul Routledge offers the opinion that “gun crime is thankfully rare in Britain,” and adds that it is because of very tight laws. He further notes this choice statement:
“If we had Yankee-style ‘right to bear arms,’ there would be many more homicides and mass shootings.”
Is this even a fare statement? There are still homicides in the United Kingdom, and while there have been a few mass shootings in the United States, these actually don’t occur that often. More importantly, it is worth noting that the less high-profile cases of a person defending his home from a burglar or other invasion of property by violent criminals is hardly reported.
British Police Arrest Seven In Gun Crackdown
European countries like Britain have some of the toughest anti-firearms laws in the world. And yet criminals still find a way of getting illegal weapons to further their criminal enterprises. Today, Merseyside Police raided a series of addresses in Huyton as part of an ongoing crackdown on gun crime. Huyton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, in Merseyside, England. Read more
