A look Inside the Brit Mind Regarding Self-Defense

[Detachment Charlie]

The link goes to the BBC website...an article by a BBC reportette on her experiences with firearms at Gunsite Training Academy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/real_story/3083521.stm

Now it's easier to understand why the farmer who shot the intruder has not been granted parole -- they said it's because "he is a danger to burglars."

 

[.45Ruger]

Interesting story. Seemed to have quite a few errors in basinc research though. Wyatt, Doc Holiday and the Clantons were in Tombstone not Phoenix. Guncite is not really in the desert outside of Phoenix. Maybe she wrote these locations simply because British subjects aren't familiar with Arizona geography. Maybe someone can tell me if I am wrong but I thought the burglers at Martin's farm had a crow bar. I consider that armed. She also neglected to mention the loooong rap sheets of the criminals and the fact that the survivor is now using tax payer Dollars (Pounds) to sue Martin.

 

[Timber-Hunter]

Considering the population she writes for, it's almost a fair article.

And, in some ways, she's right: who really wants to squeeze one off in earnest?


Other than that point, just another sheep awaiting conversion to lamb chops.

Then again, there's a whole island full of them, so perhaps she'll do just fine, safe in the middle of the herd, as she feels she'll be.

You know, there are still many things in life that I flat out do not understand.

 

[Walosi]

Her attitude/outlook/morals aren't the only ones in the UK. I've had quite a bit of e-mail correspondence with an ex-army, now postal worker in Liverpool. When he told me that my cane, which I need for navigation, might well be the only UK-legal item in my inventory, he added something else. His brother, a senior police constable in the area, said that if I were attacked over there, to hit only once with the cane, and make it count. "Rap his bollocks so hard that his earlobes explode". A second blow would be considered "offensive", unless the first had failed, and I had been injured as a result - then a second blow could be justified. Marquis of Queensbury, alley style. I really didn't intend to visit, and I pity the ones who have matured but still have to live there.

 

[blades67]

She certainly didn't break any new ground with that piece.

 

[saddenedcitizen]

Minor but crucial point 'slanted'

She threw a slant into Mr. Martin's arrest.
He was arrested/tried/sentanced/jailed for POSSESION of an
UNLICENSED SHOTGUN.
What he did with it (which I totally agree with) was
irrelevant !!! This is the true INSANITY in the british
'thought process' !!!!!!!!
Also, this presumed bimbette (they grow up to be bimbo's)
needs to grow a spine. While the taking of another life
is in no way pleasant, let alone desirable - in certain
situations, what's the alternative - die youself ??
Seems like a no-brainer to me,

 

[iamkris]

What a bizarre slant...

...these people (Brits, US liberals, etc) have. She had a perfectly good opportunity to really explore the idea os self defence. At Gunsite, they talk about the implications quite a bit. She could have explored the advantages / disadvantages, the basic human right vs the responsibilities...instead she immediately goes for an emotional "Aw an (idiot) UNARMED 16 year old is senselessly killed ... his life is forever snuffed out". Pathetic that their arguements immediately to to some extreme example instead of a real conversation.

 

[Zedicus]

Hmm...Toombstone : Phoenix
Think the Geology is just a little bit off.....

There is widespread incredulity that someone has been jailed in Britain for defending themselves and their property

How is it 'incredulity' when it's factual?

Recently, however, that mood was tempered in Salem, Oregon, where 16-year-old Anthony Choate was shot and killed after drunkenly wandering into a stranger's garage.

Once inside, he lit a fire - something he often did in a stove at home.

Homeowner Linn Stordahl heard a noise and went to investigate. On opening the garage door, he found smoke and flames and shouted a warning to the shadowy figure beyond them.

But when the figure came towards him, Stordahl pulled the trigger and fatally wounded him in the neck.

Ok, usual Media Shock & Scare Tactics....

A Grand Jury later cleared Linn Stordahl of all charges, though Stordahl now faces intimidation from local teenagers - and perhaps the depths of his own conscience.

So a Kid of 16 gets drunk (when the legal age is 21) lights a fire in somone's elses Yard because he's so pickeled he cant find his own house, the home owner then shoots at a shadow behind smoke & flames after souting a warning, Kills the kid when he heads toward him, ends up cleared of any charges as it was an accedent.
and the bbc thinks that other kids are going to 'intimidate' the guy and he's going to just go off & hide?

It's a sobering tale to those who call for American-style gun laws in the UK.

tryng to make a Mountan From a Mole Hill like usual I see.....

My Concusion:
Kid was Illegaly drunk and shouldn't have been, Homeowner was Obviously Frightened that somone was trying to torch his home, Homeowner gave the kid the chance by shouting a warning, Kid moved anyway because he was drunk, Homeoner shoots the kid.
It was a Tragic accedent, Accedents Happen Tragic or Otherwise.

Who's to Blame? Whoever sold/gave the 16 year old kid the booze in part, as well as the kid for drinking it while under age.

 

[XLMiguel]

Hmmmmm. Arson is a felony most places I can think of. Similarly, lethal force is acceptable when trying to stop a felony, especially one that may result in death or grave bodily injury, i.e. arson. Law also holds that intoxication is no excuse for criminal behavior.

At the risk of sounding a bit cold, I'd say this sounds like a dose of chlorine for the genepool.

Back on thread, today's Brits aren't the same people that built an empire, and such mushy thinking also explains why they don't have much of it anymore.:banghead:

 

[Walosi]

My niece teaches in the UK. My sis has traveled back and forth a great deal as a result. She says she has not yet met a man in her daughters circle of friends who isn't scared to death of his wife. Tickles the hell out of my brother-in-law, but I wonder if it doesn't say something about the whole culture.

 

[rrader]

Just more evidence of what a low and retrograde, post-Western society like the UK will produce.

 

[rock jock]

Homeowner was Obviously Frightened that somone was trying to torch his home, Homeowner gave the kid the chance by shouting a warning, Kid moved anyway because he was drunk, Homeoner shoots the kid.

Yep, although I would add that the kid wasn't trying, he was in fact committing arson. He died of gross stupidity and I don't feel a bit sorry for him.

I would also like to ask Ms. Collingridge how she would have reacted if said teenager had entered her home in the UK and in his drunken stupor tried to initate rough sex with her thinking she was his kinky girlfriend? Would she have tried to understand this poor misguided youth? Tried to reason with him? Or, more likely, would she have used whatever force necessary to stop what essentially would be rape?