Will we copy England one day?

[The Average Joe]

I got this email from a coworker this morning.

Didn't know if it had already been posted.

I did a search on the forum and could find it.

Interesting history lesson:

It is now closer to reality than you think.............

You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In

the darkness, you make out two shadows.

One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder

brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The last

knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside. As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask. "Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times. B but the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type

pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win. The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges. The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk, England, killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term. How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire?

It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns. Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed Man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead. The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane, Scotland, Thomas Hamilton used a

semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school. For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearm still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took Away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands." All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars. When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private

citizens. How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed. Kinda like cars. Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA, THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENTIN OUR CONSTITUTION."..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless

minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."

--Samuel Adams

[mousegunner]

NO! America is not England, and we never will be. We are the land of the free and the brave. Our history is very different, and our national character is "rugged individualism."

[The Average Joe]

NO! America is not England, and we never will be. We are the land of the free and the brave. Our history is very different, and our national character is "rugged individualism."

I right in there with you, mousegunner.

But, I'm also taking in consideration the new administration, the fact that our representatives no longer represent US, trial lawyers, and the liberal media.

I think we can fight the good fight and win...Hell, we've fought it this long.

Its just posts like this that fuel our fire and make us realize the fight is never over for our freedom.

[G27]

That article sounds like it was written by the NRA. Tony Martin shot both men as they were fleeing his home, one of them directly in that back, then went to his mother's farm and buried the shotgun.

Not saying he shouldn't have the right to defend himself, but I don't consider someone fleeing a threat, personally.

[Reservoir Dog]

That article sounds like it was written by the NRA. Tony Martin shot both men as they were fleeing his home, one of them directly in that back, then went to his mother's farm and buried the shotgun.

Not saying he shouldn't have the right to defend himself, but I don't consider someone fleeing a threat, personally.

Agreed. The circumstances of this story are unfortunate, but it is certainly not a story I would be using to triumph gun rights.

I do not see the US going down this path. Our culture regarding firearms is much different, and countries like Great Britain and Australia have nothing like the 2nd Amendment.

[Guest Astra900]

First they will take away our guns, then they will ban dentists, and force us to trade our coffee for tea.

I hate it, but I share your concern. This new admin. is just what the UN or Nato or whoever that bunch of idiots may be, needs to enforce a global disarmament. They been wanting it for a long time.

[Guest jackdog]

I think it can happen here as well. I see the time when the Government well come for our guns or force many to trade them in for food. Should the economy tank, which I see as a real likely hood, crime and riots will rise exponentially. I think one of the first things that will happen then will be martial law and an attempt to confiscate all the guns. I have said before and I will say it again 90% of the political rats,this includes both parties would love for our nation to be disarmed. And when that happens we become total slaves to the will of the government not free men.

[Magiccarpetrides]

I think it can happen here as well. I see the time when the Government well come for our guns or force many to trade them in for food. Should the economy tank, which I see as a real likely hood, crime and riots will rise exponentially. I think one of the first things that will happen then will be martial law and an attempt to confiscate all the guns. I have said before and I will say it again 90% of the political rats,this includes both parties would love for our nation to be disarmed. And when that happens we become total slaves to the will of the government not free men.

I really just dont see this happening in our lifetime. Your more likely to see a complete government breakdown/civil war before they take away peoples firearms. This doesnt mean I wont continue to support the NRA however in case im wrong.

[Guest Ralph G. Briscoe]

To my personal knowledge, the NRA has been warning since at least 1960 that gun confiscation was imminent. It's how they recruit members. It's good to have a watchdog for our rights, but it's not good to let paranoia take over. I'd gladly wager with anyone interested that there will be no significant intrusions on our gun rights in the next 8 years. It's political suicide...both sides have finally figured that out.

[Guest bheard]

Ralph I hope you are correct, but it can happen hear or anywhere else where people let it.

BH

[Guest SUNTZU]

Well, they might, but I know I won't be copying England.

[Guest jackdog]

well now I know their are at least two of us

[Guest Ralph G. Briscoe]

We must of course vigilant, but keep a firm grip on reality.

[Mike.357]

but I know I won't be copying England.

So do you mean you are going to continue going to a dentist?

complacency is our enemy

[Guest SUNTZU]

You have to realize why they let their teeth stay that way. They don't need P-38 can openers, scissors, wire strippers, the list goes on.