International Museums: The Tower of London

The Tower of London is more than just a tower, it is a full complex – once it served as a royal palace and center of government. Officially Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London is one of the city’s most popular tourist attraction and contains the old royal arsenal. It is also a museum that is home to a museum within for the Royal Fusiliers! The Tower of London is a site of mystery and history, and one worth visiting. (Click images for a closer view) Read more

International Museums: The Imperial War Museums

Few museums around the world can compare to the Imperial War Museum in London. While originally housed in the Crystal Palace, it has been in its current location, the former Bethlem Royal Hospital, since 1936. It has a collection of historic military items from both World Wars as well as well the Cold War. These pictures can hardly do it justice! (Click images for a closer view) Read more

Washington Times Notes “Absurdity of feel-good laws”

We reported earlier this week that community activists lead by the group FATHERS offered a toy-gun buyback. It seemed absurd to us, and apparently we aren’t the only ones. The Washington Times offers this commentary: “Toying with gun control – Buyback program for squirt guns illustrates absurdity of feel-good gun laws.”

The article took aim (no pun intended) at how gun control isn’t the answer. The editorial noted:

“One need look no further than last month’s rioting in London to see that violence and chaos do not end when the populace has been disarmed. At least 100 homes burned to the ground, and shopkeepers watched helplessly as their businesses were pillaged and their livelihoods destroyed. London’s Metropolitan Police issued a 13-point list of ‘crime prevention’ tips that boiled down to a few basic recommendations: Remove valuable items from view, fire up closed-circuit surveillance cameras and call the police emergency number when the rioters arrive. Not that placing one of the 20,800 calls received in a night would have done much good. By the time the bobbies restored order, damage estimates exceeded $300 million.

“When chaos hit the streets of Los Angeles in 1992, police beat a hasty retreat. Shop owners in Asian neighborhoods, by contrast, took matters into their own hands. They organized themselves and stood watch from rooftops with their personal rifles, shotguns and pistols. They opened fire on local gangs and approaching looters, enabling the good guys to end the day with their places of business unmolested and their lives spared.

“Leftists prefer everyone to become victims. Allowing good people to defend themselves requires the intolerant admission that there’s a difference between good and evil. It’s safer for them to put all of their reliance upon government and blame society when the state isn’t up to the task.”

And maybe this is the issue. Leftists do seem to prefer everyone is the victim. Perhaps a riot is seen as a way of wealth redistribution, a Robin Hood mentality of sorts. Let the poor have their way as the rich are unarmed.

NRA News: London 2012 Olympics: Locog Reverses Ban on Schoolchildren Getting Free Shooting Tickets

Cameron Gray and John Popp talk to Matt Rutherford from the British blog ShootClay - NRA News

Olympic Ticket Giveaway Will Now Include Gun Events

Imagine the chance to get a free ticket to an Olympic event. Those can be extremely difficult to obtain, and for next summer’s Olympic Games in London, tickets are being given to students but there was a catch. FoxNews.com reported that “London is giving 125,000 lucky schoolchildren tickets for any event at the 2012 Olympics — except those involving guns.”

However, The Daily Telegraph has reported: “London 2012 Olympic Games organisers have reversed a decision that would have prevented schoolchildren from receiving free tickets to the Olympic shooting competitions.”

We’re glad to report that the organizers had a change of heart on this issue.

Boston Globe Notes UK’s Tough Guns Save Lives… During the Recent Riots!

This week Ben Jacobs, staff writer for The Boston Globe tried to compare the Los Angeles riots from 1992 to the recent violence in London, noting that 53 people died in the United States, compared to four in the UK as of Wednesday afternoon.

Jacobs also noted that 35 people of the 53 in LA were killed by gunshot wounds. He actually notes that there was a “small silver lining,” suggesting that there has been little loss of life in the U.K. We’d like to know if the families and friends of the four dead would agree.

But the editorial also offers a greater thought on the matter:

“Unlike in the United States, the UK has strict gun licensing laws that rank among the toughest gun control laws in the world. Further, most British policemen do not carry firearms in the course of their duties and need special permission to do so. The result is that while many people have been beaten and demand for baseball bats for personal protection has gone through the roof in England, there’s only been minimal gun violence.”

Let’s examine this closer. There has been minimal gun violence, suggesting that there has been in fact GUN VIOLENCE. Is that any comfort to those caught in this violence? What if you are trying to defend your home from those wielding bats, would you really want to only have a bat to fight back with? And for the record we have to wonder how many are cricket bats as the riots are in London, not Los Angeles.

But as noted, there is gun violence. Do you want a bat – baseball or cricket – to defend yourself if the thugs are wielding guns?

Finally, gun crime has been on the rise in the UK, which suggests that the toughest gun control laws aren’t working as well as many would like.

Lasers Replace Pellet Guns in Youth Olympics

We’ve been following this story closely, but haven’t said much. However, it is worth a few words on the Olympic Games organizers’ decision to use lasers in place of pellet guns for the modern pentathlon. While traditional pistols will be used for the cross discipline event in the London 2012 Olympics, for the junior competition laser pistols will be used in place of pellet guns.

The modern pentathlon combines fencing, horse jumping, swimming, running and of course shooting. The event was conceived to replicate the activities of a 19^th century cavalry soldier (an officer of course as it was conceived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games). Lasers are being used as these are (according to various sources quoting the games’ organizers): “safer and more environmentally friendly.”

How are lasers, which use batteries that will eventually end up in a landfill more environmentally friendly than pellets fired via air pressure?

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

Armed Police Patrols Up in London

The mainstream media in the United States typically reports that the U.K. has less gun crime, and often cites the fact that the police on the other side of the pond go around sans firearms. But the BBC is reporting that gun crime is on the rise.

This is worth noting, because ownership of firearms is strictly controlled. So to those gun-control types we ask, “where are the bad guys getting their guns?”

Baltimore Sun Compares Cities – But is it Apples to Oranges?

It is a tale of two cities indeed, and on first pass may seem especially biased, but give this blog post on The Baltimore Sun‘s Web site a read: “London and gun crime.” The story notes that London has less gun crime:

“London, a city of about 7.5 million, has had 110 homicides this year, 17 of which involved guns. Baltimore, a city of about 640,000 has had 208 slayings so far this year, most with guns.”

But consider this passage:

“The Trident unit has 300 officers and a $44 million budget. Baltimore cops have about 70 homicide detectives investigating murder; the homicide unit has a budget of $5.3 million (the Criminal Investigation Division’s budget is $38 million).”

The blog post even notes that 40 officers are assigned to a single murder case in London, so is it the dedication to law enforcement that is really what keeps crime low?

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