I agree with you fully, The moment that I saw this thread, my first impression was that the guy ranting was drunk and possibly the girls talking in loud voices set him off. If no one had taken any notice, he would probably ranted on for a short while and no one would have been harmed. Alcohol is a large culture in Jane's part of the world and when the bars close, a few guys walk home ranting all the way. I have seen a guy ranting at a lamppost. firstly because he walked into it, and then because the light was hurting his eyes. Most of these guys (and a few women) get home, find the stairs too daunting, fall asleep on the settee or the floor, then wake up in the morning with a sore head. This incident also raises the issue of carrying weapons. Drunks in the UK often attract police attention and end up sleeping in the cells. In the morning they get a cup of tea and saunter off home, If they have argued with the police, they mostly get an £80 penalty ticket to add to their sore head. If however they are carrying a weapon, it is a whole different situation. They are taken to court and face up to 7 years behind bars for carrying an assault knife and 14 years for carrying a gun. Our daughter has to deal with these idiots every Friday ans Saturday night and in 4 years she has not arrested a single guy carrying a weapon. If similar laws were introduced in the US for carrying weapons while drunk or committing a criminal offence, people would probably be less keen on owning guns. PS. Our daughter arrests very few of the drunks, a cold stare from her mostly sobers them up enough to head off home. Perhaps their is some relevance here to the incident in this thread.
I've been following the story. Portland is 90 miles north of Eugene. No one was drunk and the girls were young and merely riding and the right wing fuck started in on them. He has a record other than this. But of course "we soft types"are probably way off the mark.
Curious...factions here wish to ban so-called "assault guns" in the U.S. Having banned all of those already, now the U.K. has a special class of knife? An "assault" knife. What defines an "assault knife"? I'm curious...did David use an "assault rock" in his sling when he slew Goliath? Does it seem as though we're trying to assign intent and motivation to an inanimate object, here? Is it not the person behind the object, which dictates when that object is being used in an "assault"? I wonder if a person killed by a lowly "non-assault" knife (again...whatever that might be) is less dead? Hasn't England now deemed steak knives as being some sort of special class of dangerous implement? Have knitting needles been subject to restriction yet? I'm sorry...I am absolutely not making light of violence, especially violence being perpetrated upon innocent victims. But, attempts to disarm the criminal class, by disarming the law-abiding...rubs me the wrong way. It is utterly impossible to eliminate the violent tendencies of people, by attempting to disarm them. If you've ever heard of the U.S. gangsters known as "Bonnie and Clyde", consider their example. They were using several BARs...Browning Automatic Rifles, a fully automatic rifle, that fired .30-06 cartridges at 600 or so rounds per minute, from a 20 round magazine. They got them, by raiding National Guard Armories. Unless you completely eliminate all firearms, and knives, and bows, and swords...there will always be an armory of such weapons somewhere, waiting to be stolen, and misused. Even if you could eliminate them all...you can't eliminate the knowledge of how to construct them. Do a search for homemade firearms on your fav search engine. In places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, South Africa, China, the Phillipines, Australia, and Brazil...and likely anywhere in the world...industrious people have fabricated their own pistols, shotguns, rifles, and submachineguns. Some of them are quite crude, of course...but many of them are surprisingly well made, and effective. I'm curious why there is this worldwide belief that these objects somehow emanate evil, or violent intent. Place the blame where it lies. Violent people commit violent acts. I've collected, owned, and carried guns for most of my adult life. According to studies that I've seen, I am what is known as a "super-owner", possibly, if one believes these studies, in the top .1% of all gun owners in the U.S. Yet, none of my firearms have ever harmed any person in any way. Well...one or two have been harmed by recoil, but that's somewhat different! I disagree...mostly because such laws are already in place, in many locales. I can't unequivocally say that such laws exist "everywhere".
Portland man accused of killing 2 during hate-filled rant found guilty of 1st-degree murder Wonder where he got that shiner from? Perhaps from his new BFF Darnell, 260 lbs. with a really mean disposition and looking for a place to warm his cock on a cold night. - watch your ass indeed....lol..
This fucked up troll does not speak for anyone either. If anything you will see this fuckwit troll following me around all day long making @ZenKarma wondering why he has a dickhead stalking somebody he hates on this forum. Fuck off you troll and go and read the forum guidelines point four and then workout why your dumbarse mate is banned on here.
I'd call that a load of utter BS, TBH. I am also from a "lowly" working class background and there are plenty of li'l shits who would act that way. They are like their asshole parents. I love your non-ignorant British attitude.
The term "Assault knife"or weapon, is used by police (internally) to describe the knife carried both by someone with the obvious intent to use it as a weapon. The knife itself will have some or all of the following features...... A locking blade......Be sharpened to a point......Sharpened along both edges......A hilt to prevent the assailants hand sliding onto the blade, or other such features that distinguish it from the knife that I use to sharpen my pencil. A screwdriver sharpened to a point is also seen as an assault weapon.
I understand what you're saying, but still I hope that if I witnessed someone being harassed I would have the courage to step in and help.
Well, thank you for defining this for me. I'm now curious...does an old fashioned straight-razor qualify as an assault weapon? I mean...it doesn't have a locking blade, it isn't sharpened to a point, it isn't sharpened along both edges, it doesn't have a hilt, so...it seems legal, based on those things, at least. Also...the carrying of a "regular" non-sharpened screwdriver is acceptable? I would hope that you understood my point earlier, though. Does it make sense, that an otherwise law abiding person is denied the utility of carrying a simple pen-knife (I presume that would be illegal, due to its having a sharpened point), because *someone*, *somewhere*, *might* be inclined to use such an implement as a weapon? What about knitting needles, sharp pencils, or ballpoint pens? At some point...does it not become ridiculous to attempt to describe and define every single item in existence...as to whether that item is capable of being used in an "assault"? This reminds me of some years back, I was going through security at the airport , and I had accidentally left my tiny pair of mustache scissors in my carry-on bag. The TSA agent found them, and held them up as though they were about to explode, and asked me why I needed them on board the aircraft. I told her that I didn't, I had simply overlooked them. She proceeded to ask me to step aside, and proclaimed that I would need to be completely searched...to ensure that I wasn't attempting to bring any other "prohibited weapons" on board the aircraft. When I began to object, she called her supervisor over. She showed him the offending item. He sighed a loud sigh of exasperation, took the tiny scissors, held them between his thumb and forefinger, and made a stabbing motion into the palm of his other hand. Nothing happened, naturally...because mustache scissors have intentionally blunted tips, to avoid injuring oneself whilst trimming one's facial hair. He carefully returned them to the TSA agent, and again with an air of frustration and exasperation...proclaimed to her, "They're fine! They're not a weapon. Allow him to proceed!". Thank the Lord...there was at least one person working that day with the tiniest scrap of common sense. They were actually more blunt (less sharp?) than these...but this was the best pic that I could find.
At the end of the day, it is all about common sense. We all have items in the home that could inflict serious injury, but we don't carry them around with us, particularly in public places. Even a normal screwdriver could cause serious injury, but carried as part of a tool kit of for specific reason it is not illegal. However, how would you explain the reason for carrying one sharpened to a point. Police are not stupid and they mainly search people who have a history or violence. Few of them have reason for carrying any tools, simply because they don't have a job. PS, I was working at Heathrow during that security purge. I had it's funny moments. You would not believe the number of handcuffs found on guys spending a weekend in Amsterdam.
I agree with you completely. Unfortunately...it's not entirely true. If it were, there wouldn't be ridiculous laws defining "assault knives", and the like. Using common sense...people would be charged with actually committing an assault, not with carrying some inanimate object which has been arbitrarily deemed as "offensive". Of course...carrying or using an object, such as knives, scissors, screwdrivers, knitting needles, etc...while committing a violent act, or some other criminal activity, should be a chargeable offense. But, the mere innocent possession of a tool...such as knives, scissors, screwdrivers, knitting needles, etc...should not be. IMO, at least.
I think that terms such as assault knives are a police abbreviation for carrying the knife with intent to commit a violent crime. I carry tools in the car all the time and when I have been stopped on a routine police check (after working into the early hours at one of our theaters) no one seems in the least bit concerned. Our daughter tells me that when people are questioned about possession of a tool, tradesmen give a logical explanation and the matter is closed within seconds. Those who start making a fuss are checked on the police database and almost all of them have a criminal history. Not all police officers have out daughters years of experience, not to mention having a chartered engineer as a father, but when they get things wrong, they soon get some advice from their superiors. When smart asses post videos on youtube about their treatment by the police, they never seem to mention the reason why they were being stopped and quizzed in the first place.
Okay. So...would an otherwise completely law-abiding citizen, with absolutely no criminal record, be perfectly legal in carrying a pocket knife? Say a Swiss Army Knife? What about a small (say...2.75 inch blade) knife whose blade locked in the open position...which is a safety feature, to prevent a knife from closing on one's fingers while using the blade? I thank you for your answers. I hope I do not appear argumentative...I'm just trying to determine what exactly is allowable, under your laws.
