Tag: UK

Burying Them Won’t Save Them

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Huge arsenal of guns and ammo found – hidden behind false wall day after Dunblane massacre

A builder renovating a house has discovered a huge arsenal of guns and ammunition that were hidden behind a false wall the day after the Dunblane massacre.

More than 30 shotguns and pistols, along with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, were discovered in a semi-detached house in the quiet village of Dinas Powys in south Wales.

The guns were wrapped in newspaper dated March 14 1996, the day after the Dunblane primary school massacre in which sixteen children and a teacher lost their lives.

Simon Berni, the builder who discovered the haul, said: “It was an incredible arsenal – full, absolutely choc-a-bloc with eight shelves of fire arms and ammunition”.

—

Mr Berni said: “I was shocked because there weren’t any bricks in the wall but a lot of shotgun barrels and hand guns…They obviously belonged to somebody who knew what they were doing as they were all greased and beautifully wrapped up in newspaper.”

Police are investigating the gun stash, but believe it’s likely the property’s previous owner simply hadn’t registered them and hid the weapons to avoid losing them in a government crackdown on guns in the wake of Dunblane.

So someone hadn’t registered his guns, still managed to acquire a lot of ammo, and could see the writing on the wall after Dunblane – but instead of turning them in during an amnesty he carefully preserved and stored them, never to use them again.

In other words, he lost them, anyway.

Some talk about stashing guns and ammo against a similar eventuality here.

For what? So somebody else can stumble across them a decade or two later?

Well, Damn

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I’m guilty of this myself:

Comparing England (or UK) murder rates with the US: More complex than you thought

I have frequently in this series referred to the English murder rates as historically low and currently very low compared to US murder rates. I blandly accepted the murder statistics published by the UK Home Office as definitive. I overlooked the details of what and how the English counted “murders.” It turns out that was a big mistake. (I was first turned onto my error by this post at Extrano’s Alley.)

I fell into a definitions trap you may not be aware of. The shortest version is this. We count and report crimes based on initial data. The Brits count and report crimes based on the outcome of the investigation and trial. Yep, that says what I meant it to say.

RTWT. The kicker is this, though:

The murder rate in the UK is either equal to or higher than the murder rate in the US.  (Sources not available. See reduced conclusion instead.) 

The murder rate in the UK according to US standards is double or higher than their reported rate. It may be impossible to produce an actual apples to apples comparison number from official sources.  It is not 15% of the US rate. 

As he says, comparing the Home Office “homicide” statistics against the FBI UCR statistics isn’t comparing apples to apples, it’s “comparing apples to meatloaf.”

And be sure to read this link, too.

I won’t make this mistake again.

UPDATED to reflect revision of the original post.

What Piers Morgan Doesn’t Get

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Generally while I’m at work in the office I like to have something running in the background that is interesting to listen to.  Today, for example, I fired up Bill Whittle’s “virtual inaugural address” followed by a few different Uncommon Knowledge interviews of various people.  I don’t recall which person said it, but in one discussion, Peter Robinson asked his guest what primary difference he could say there was between Americans and Europeans.  His respondent said (I paraphrase) that one major difference was our attitude towards government.  When the housing bubble burst and the economy both here and abroad cratered, he said, Europeans were out in the streets protesting for their governments to DO SOMETHING!  (I distinctly remember seeing articles about Greek “anarchists” protesting against cutting government.)  Only here in America did people spontaneously organize to tell the government to get the hell out of our lives and leave us alone.

I was reminded of a piece written by Steven Den Beste a few years ago, Non-European Country, wherein he said:

It’s true that America is more like Europe than anywhere else on the planet, but it would perhaps be more accurate to say that the US is less unlike Europe than anywhere else on the planet.

Someone pointed out a critical difference: European “nations” are based on ethnicity, language or geography. The American nation is based on an idea, and those who voluntarily came here to join the American experiment were dedicated to that idea. They came from every possible geographic location, speaking every possible language, deriving from every possible ethnicity, but most of them think of themselves as Americans anyway, because that idea is more important than ethnicity or language or geographical origin. That idea was more important to them than the things which tried to bind them to their original nation, and in order to become part of that idea they left their geographical origin. Most of them learned a new language. They mixed with people of a wide variety of ethnicities, and a lot of them cross-married. And yet we consider ourselves one people, because we share that idea. It is the only thing which binds us together, but it binds us as strongly as any nation.

Indeed, it seems to bind us much more strongly than most nations. If I were to move to the UK, and became a citizen there, I would forever be thought of by the British as being “American”. Even if I lived there fifty years, I would never be viewed as British. But Brits who come here and naturalize are thought of as American by those of us who were born here. They embrace that idea, and that’s all that matters. If they do, they’re one of us. And so are the Persians who naturalize, and the Chinese, and the Bengalis, and the Estonians, and the Russians. (I know that because I’ve worked with all of those, all naturalized, and all of them as American as I am.)

You’re French if you’re born in France, of French parents. You’re English if you’re born to English parents (and Welsh if your parents were Welsh). But you’re American if you think you’re American, and are willing to give up what you used to be in order to be one of us. That’s all it takes. But that’s a lot, because “thinking you’re American” requires you to comprehend that idea we all share. But even the French can do it, and a lot of them have.

That is a difference so profound as to render all similarities between Europe and the US unimportant by comparison. But it is a difference that most Europeans are blind to, and it is that difference which causes America’s attitudes and actions to be mystifying to Europeans. It is not just that they don’t understand that idea; most of them don’t even realize it exists, because Europeans have no equivalent, and some who have an inkling of it dismiss it contemptuously.

And that made me think of something else.

After the 1996 school shooting in Dunblane, Scotland, the British Parliament rushed through legislation banning handguns above .22 rimfire caliber, and it wasn’t a ban saying “You can’t have any more,” it was a “Mr. & Mrs. Law-abiding British Subject, we know who you are and we know what you own – turn them all in.” From this 1998 British Home Office report, Firearm Certificate Statistics, England and Wales, 1997 (PDF):

Following the shooting incident in Dunblane, Scotland, in March 1996, changes to the existing firearms legislation were introduced to increase public safety. The resulting Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 banned all handguns over .22 calibre with effect from 1 October 1997. A hand-in exercise took place between 1 July and 30 September 1997 which resulted in 110,382 of these larger calibre handguns being surrendered in England and Wales, while 24,620 smaller calibre handguns were handed in voluntarily in anticipation of further legislation. The remaining large calibre handguns held on certificate include muzzle-loading guns, signalling apparatus, firearms used for the humane killing of animals, war trophies etc. (All handguns were subsequently prohibited from 1 February 1998).

(My emphasis.  And how did that “increase public safety” thing work out?  Oh, right.)

In the UK, they surrendered guns that were not banned.  Here in America when we think something is about to be banned, we buy every one we can get our hands on, and everything we think might get banned along with it.

Steven was absolutely correct – Europeans like Piers Morgan can’t comprehend it. It baffles them completely.  And contemptuous dismissal?  It’s Piers’ trademark, but he doesn’t hold a patent on it.

Death Panels? We Don’t Need No Steenkin’ Death Panels!

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Reader Phil B. emails from New Zealand another appalling story, this time on the subject of Britain’s National Health Service, the model many on the Left here want us to emulate:

Hospitals are paid millions to hit targets for the number of patients who die on the Liverpool Care Pathway, the Mail can reveal.

What is the “Liverpool Care Pathway”? Well, Wikipedia defines it as:

The Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) is a UK care pathway covering palliative care options for patients in the final days or hours of life. It helps doctors and nurses provide quality end-of-life care.

That’s what it’s supposed to be, but the reality is, unsurprisingly, somewhat different. From the first link:

The incentives have been paid to hospitals that ensure a set percentage of patients who die on their wards have been put on the controversial regime.

In some cases, hospitals have been set targets that between a third and two thirds of all the deaths should be on the LCP, which critics say is a way of hastening the deaths of terminally ill patients.

At least £30million in extra money from taxpayers is estimated to have been handed to hospitals over the past three years to achieve these goals.

Critics of the method warned last night that financial incentives for hospitals could influence the work of doctors.

The LCP involves withdrawal of life-saving treatment. Patients are sedated and most are denied nutrition and fluids by tube. On average a patient put on the Pathway dies within 29 hours.

One of the leading critics, hospital consultant Professor Patrick Pullicino, said: ‘Given the fact that the diagnosis of impending death is such a subjective one, putting a financial incentive into the mix is really not a good idea and it could sway the decision-making process.’

Gee, ya THINK?

Here’s a recent example of the LCP in action:

An 85-year-old woman died on her own after relatives were not told by doctors that she had been put on the controversial Liverpool Care Pathway.

Olive Goom was alone when she died at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital after medics did not consult with her family, a newspaper reported.

Hours before, relatives had been reassured by staff on the phone that there was no urgent need to visit, even though doctors had already removed tubes providing food and fluid.

They only found out she had died when her niece went to visit her and found she was already being prepared for the mortuary, and last night said they would never stop feeling guilty that no one was there in her final hours.

An exception? No.

Their experience is shared by a number of families who have said relatives were put on the Liverpool Care Pathway – the system designed to ease the suffering of patients in their final hours – without any consultation.

And now we know why. Follow the money. The hospitals are paid to do so.

Government-run single-payer health care! Hey, let’s do it here!  It’ll work if the right people are in charge!

And Monty Python thought they were making satire:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXibX5I0ZBU?rel=0]

Number Six

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Recently Bill Whittle did an epsiode of Firewall entitled “Number Six,” about the sin of envy.  He starts off with a hypothetical: what would happen if your employer gave you – no strings attached – $200k.

But you found out that all of your coworkers got $500k?

And if the deal was structured so that either everyone took the money or no one got the money, well, I assure you that there are people out there – not everyone, but a few – who would rather tear up two hundred thousand dollars of pure gain simply because the idea of other people having more is so repulsive to them.

We call these people “Progressives.”

Jeremy Clarkson of the hit British TV show Top Gear has experienced this firsthand. Reader “Sinker” sent me a link to Clarkson’s essay on the subject.

Pullquote:

A few moments ago, my dog died, and, as an experiment, I announced the fact on Twitter. Now, everyone must have known that when a family pet is put down, the family in question is bound to be upset. So you’d expect a bit of sympathy. And, in America, that’s what you’d get.

Not in Britain, though. Moments after I posted my Tweet, a man called Ryan Paisey asked: “How does she smell?” Adam Farrow said the news was “kinda funny”. Phil May wanted to know if it was James May’s fault, and Tom Green said simply: “Good”. All that in less than what Twitter calls zero seconds.

Five minutes has now elapsed, and still it’s a non-stop tirade of abuse. Which confirms my theory. Britain is a nation of 62 million complete and utter b*******. We are the country that invented the concentration camp, and international slavery.

I think, however, Mr. Clarkson has misdiagnosed his countrymen. It’s not that they’re “complete and utter b*******,” it’s that they’re complete and utter Progressives. I know, they’re hard to tell apart, but you can be a b****** and not be a Progressive.  The opposite is not true.

They’ve taken class warfare from the 99% vs. the 1% to the absolute individual level – if anyone has more than anyone else, then they’re “the enemy.” And if someone is ostentatious about their possessions, they’re even more greatly hated:

There is more evidence of our inherent nastiness to be found on the road. Last week, I was testing the magnificent Ferrari 458 Spider, and I couldn’t have been more despised if I’d run around a shopping centre in full SS uniform and a Ku Klux Klan hat trying to steal children. The message was clear: “Whoever is in that car has become rich by exploiting the workers, and, as a result, we are not going to let him out of that side turning.”

Here in the U.S., the Progressives have not made as much “progress”:

Again, we must draw parallels with the US. Over there, when a tramp sees someone drive by in a Ferrari, he will say, “One day, I’ll have one of those.” Here, what he will say is: “One day, I’ll have him out of that.”

And I think Clarkson really understands Progressivism’s influence, too:

Outwardly, we hated communist Russia; inwardly, it’s what 95 per cent of the country wants.

Here it’s maybe a third.

But they’re working really hard to increase the ratio.

I wanted to add this, too. In 1967 the “Longshoreman Philosopher” Eric Hoffer was interviewed by Eric Sevareid and it was broadcast in September of that year. Listen to Hoffer on the topic of intellectuals and on the people of Britian as of 1967:

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf
Not quite fifty years later, you can see where the U.S. is heading.

Meanwhile, in Sarah Brady Paradise™

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UK expat reader Phil B. (now living in Middle Earth) sends links to the story of Dale Cregan, fine upstanding British subject now suspected in the murders of at least four people, most recently two female constables in an ambush:

For the two unarmed policewomen it was a routine call to a suspected burglary.

But, half an hour later, Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, were gunned down in an act of ‘despicable evil’.

The story of the break-in was apparently a fabrication and lying in wait was a killer.

He cut the constables down in a hail of bullets before tossing a grenade at them.

(My emphasis.)

So, how are those “toughest gun laws in the world” working out for you?

And this isn’t Mr. Cregan’s (alleged) first use of a hand grenade, either:

Police had offered a £50,000 reward for information about the murders of David Short, 46, and his son Mark, 23.

The Short family had been at loggerheads with a rival clan for more than ten years but it spilled into bloodshed – reputedly over drug debts – in May when Mark Short was killed.

A gunman walked into the Cotton Tree pub in Droylsden on May 25 and Mark Short died from a gunshot wound to the neck.

Four men have been charged in connection with his murder and are due to enter pleas at Manchester Crown Court in November.

David Short was killed in a gun and grenade attack at his home in Clayton on August 10 and earlier this month a 33-year-old man appeared at Manchester Crown Court charged with his murder.

That man was Dale Cregan, who had been “released on police bail pending further inquiries”.

Now in that last link there’s a very interesting sidebar. Guess what the “new weapon of choice” is over in “Gun Free Britain”?

Teams of armed officers involved in the manhunt were aware of the increasing involvement of grenades in crime in the North West. (My emphasis.)

They were told the Russian-made military devices each contained 1,000 ball bearings with a ‘kill zone’ of more than 25 yards.

One of the best-known Soviet grenades is the F1, nicknamed the Little Lemon, which has a four-second fuse.

Based on a French design and introduced during World War II, it is now obsolete but can still be found in war zones and is highly prized by gangsters.

This year two Merseyside gangsters were jailed for life after planting a grenade in bushes outside former Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish’s home. It was apparently intended for a neighbour.

They were responsible for a merciless campaign of violence including numerous shootings but their weapon of choice was the grenade.

Phil notes in his email:

Of course the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS – which among the cognoscenti stands for “Couldn’t Prosecute Satan”) which couldn’t get its act together and the Courts that refuse to jail offenders are to blame and deserve their share of criticism for not dong their job….

Not Satan, but they’ll prosecute homeowners for defending themselves, as long as there’s not too much negative press first.

He concludes:

But of course years and years of social engineering have taken their toll on the fabric and morals of society – and why not? Who but the law abiding fears the law?

I am SO glad that I am 12,000 miles away from this lot….

I’m glad you escaped too, Phil.

I’m going back to Left4Dead2.

I Guess This Time He Couldn’t Claim the Gun Went Off “Accidentally”

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British expat Phil B. emails a couple of interesting links. First up:

A government minister has issued an impassioned defence of two of his constituents, saying they should not be prosecuted for shooting two suspected burglars who allegedly broke into their remote farm cottage.

Once again, the weapon involved was a shotgun, but this time Mr. Andy Ferrie cannot claim before the court that the gun discharged by accident. That defense worked for Kenneth Batchelor, but he fired only one shot. Mr. Ferrie fired two rounds, and hit two of the four burglars invading his home.

Mr. Batchelor had unlocked his gun cabinet, retrieved his shotgun, unlocked the ammo cabinet, loaded his shotgun, pointed the shotgun at one Matthew Clements, a 41 year-old 280-lb. professional bouncer, who had climbed up a construction scaffold outside Mr. Batchelor’s home and climbed in a bedroom window, verbally threatening violence.  But the actual discharge of the shotgun was accidental. Mr. Batchelor had to claim the shooting was an accident, because otherwise he could be convicted of murder in the death of Mr. Clements.  Clements was “known to police,” and had reportedly threatened a garage manager with an Uzi sub-machine gun. But under English law, according to the humorously named lawyer Harry Potter as once explained to murder defendant Brett Osborne,

The law does not require the intention to kill for a prosecution for murder to succeed. All that is required is an intention to cause serious bodily harm. That intention can be fleeting and momentary. But if it is there in any form at all for just a second – that is, if the blow you struck was deliberate rather than accidental – you can be guilty of murder and spend the rest of your life in prison.

Deliberately shooting not one, but two burglars indicates “an intention to cause serious bodily harm.”

As it should.

Since the burglars struck by Mr. Ferrie’s shotgun blasts did not die, he stands accused of “GBH” – Grievous Bodily Harm.

The Ferries have been burglarized several times previously. RTW story. Very interesting.

And then we have the flip-side, another case of “Only Ones” acting as only they can:

A policeman shouted ‘sweet as’ moments after his colleague gunned down a suspect, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Azelle Rodney, 24, died instantly when he was shot six times in a busy high street.

The rounds were fired from the open window of a patrol car within a split second of it pulling alongside the VW Golf carrying Rodney.

The firearms officer – known only as E7 – was sitting in the front seat and let off eight shots after police in another car had forced the Golf to slow down.

Six hits out of eight shots! Perhaps the NYPD should send their officers to England to learn how to shoot?  Or at least do drive-bys?

Now, in this case the shooting victim died, but the officer involved was not charged with homicide, even though the victim turned out not to have a firearm within reach. Why? Because according to British law, what the officer believed at the time is more important than reality. See the case of Harry Stanley, shot to death by police officers when they thought the table leg he was carrying wrapped in a plastic bag was a sawed-off shotgun. In the case of Mr. Rodney, police believed

that Rodney and the two men with him had machine guns and were on their way to rob Colombian drug dealers.

You’ll note that “E7” didn’t have to wait until the car pulled alongside to unlock his gun case, take out his gun, unlock the ammo box, and then load his gun before discharging eight rounds into the VW Golf.

No, “E7” is sprinkled with the magic fairy-dust of a government paycheck.  Mr. Ferrie provides that fairy-dust.

Good luck to Mr. Ferrie – and his wife, who was also arrested on the same charges.  Even if they’re acquitted, he’s going to have a hell of a legal bill.  And they probably won’t have enough money left over to get the hell out of England for Australia as they had planned.

I’m betting that they’ll plead guilty to some reduced charges to save themselves money – but they’ll always have a record.

But England Doesn’t HAVE Gun Shows!

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Where do their criminals get hand grenades?

Caught on camera: Moment grenade is hurled at a house shortly after man was gunned down in similar gangland hit

A video showing the horrific moment two men launch a grenade at a house shortly after a similar attack killed a grieving father has been released by police.

It shows two men approach the house in the middle of the morning before they pull the pin out of the grenade and throw it at the property.

The pair then run off but the effects of the blast can clearly be seen on the video as smoke and dust billows around the front of the building.

The grenade attack seen in the video took place outside a house on Luke Road in Droylsden, Manchester. (AKA: “Gunchester” – Ed.) No body was injured during this incident.

However, ten minutes earlier, the body of 46-year-old David Short was found at a house on Folkestone Road East in Clayton after police were called there following reports of gunshots.

There had also been an explosion at the address, which was caused by a grenade. It took place after his son Mark, 23, was shot dead as a gunman opened fire in a pub in the city in May. His father had previously branded his son’s murderers ‘cowards’.

Ah yes, gun-free Britain, that Utopia that the Brady Campaign fights so hard to bring to our shores.

h/t to Phil B., who has left the shores of Britain and settled in New Zealand where they’re at least a little saner. And Phil reminds us that hand grenades are illegal for private citizens to possess in the UK. I guess no one told those nice boys who were playing with them.