More UK madness

Status
Not open for further replies.
See how many law-abiding sheep will bother next time. Of course, they're on their way to banning kitchen knives since their use is up in crimes now. I would imagine soon it will be illegal to own a rock in your garden......
 
Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun
Thursday, November 12, 2009, 10:301 reader has commented on this story.
Click here to read their views.
A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".
Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.
The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon.
In a statement read out in court, Mr Clarke said: "I didn't think for one moment I would be arrested.
"I thought it was my duty to hand it in and get it off the streets."
The court heard how Mr Clarke was on the balcony of his home in Nailsworth Crescent, Merstham, when he spotted a black bin liner at the bottom of his garden.
In his statement, he said: "I took it indoors and inside found a shorn-off shotgun and two cartridges.
"I didn't know what to do, so the next morning I rang the Chief Superintendent, Adrian Harper, and asked if I could pop in and see him.
"At the police station, I took the gun out of the bag and placed it on the table so it was pointing towards the wall."
Mr Clarke was then arrested immediately for possession of a firearm at Reigate police station, and taken to the cells.
Defending, Lionel Blackman told the jury Mr Clarke's garden backs onto a public green field, and his garden wall is significantly lower than his neighbours.
He also showed jurors a leaflet printed by Surrey Police explaining to citizens what they can do at a police station, which included "reporting found firearms".
Quizzing officer Garnett, who arrested Mr Clarke, he asked: "Are you aware of any notice issued by Surrey Police, or any publicity given to, telling citizens that if they find a firearm the only thing they should do is not touch it, report it by telephone, and not take it into a police station?"
To which, Mr Garnett replied: "No, I don't believe so."
Prosecuting, Brian Stalk, explained to the jury that possession of a firearm was a "strict liability" charge – therefore Mr Clarke's allegedly honest intent was irrelevant.
Just by having the gun in his possession he was guilty of the charge, and has no defence in law against it, he added.
But despite this, Mr Blackman urged members of the jury to consider how they would respond if they found a gun.
He said: "This is a very small case with a very big principle.
"You could be walking to a railway station on the way to work and find a firearm in a bin in the park.
"Is it unreasonable to take it to the police station?"
Paul Clarke will be sentenced on December 11.
Judge Christopher Critchlow said: "This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.
"The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant."
Click to expand...
No good deed goes unpunished
 
Dang.

That sucks.

We should get out of Afghanistan and Iraq. We need to send troops to the UK to overthrow their oppressive regime and return the Queen to power.

Britain is a perfect example of what happens when elected gov't goes horribly, horribly wrong. The monarchy should have dissolved the gov't and resumed control while they still had the chance.
 
So now in England it is safer to keep a gun you find on the streets in your possession in secret. Either destroy it or keep it for when the country becomes an Islamic Caliphate to defend yourself, because if you do what the government has asked of you, you are going to prison. The government wants you to be a criminal now I guess, at least that's what I'm reading from the English government, I love living in the U.S., especially since reading this garbage. When governments do this how are we supposed to remain highroad, can't we call idiots idiots.
 
Wow, that's terrible. If I lived in the UK that would certainly end any thoughts I had of "doing the right thing" or cooperating with police.
 
Boxer, Biden & co want to bring that kind of toro caca here. He should not have been arrested for finding a gun. I can see asking him to leave it in place & calling after looking inside next time (instead of moving it to preserve fingerprints and anything else in the bag) so they could see it in place. I guess UK police want to have to look at every garbage bag in the country. I sure wouldn't look inside after hearing about this.

It's coming here unless we stay alert & make our voices heard in our state capitols & Washington. Remember hearing stories of kids getting expelled for bringing advil to school for a headache or (shudder) giving some to a friend with a headache?
 
Britain is a perfect example of what happens when elected gov't goes horribly, horribly wrong. The monarchy should have dissolved the gov't and resumed control while they still had the chance.
Click to expand...

They do elect these guys. The citizens over there are quite unhappy with their government right now. I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few of them are turned out next election.
 
Stupid law, but...

I am curious about certain details.

He finds a trash bag in his yard containing something heavy, but doesn't carefully peek inside. Instead, he carries it in the house and puts it on the table. It could contain dog feces or a bomb or a snake, but he carries the bag inside without looking. Only on his kitchen table does he open it and discover its contents.

Then, he keeps the shotgun and ammo in the house overnight, waiting until the next day to take it to the police station. At the police counter, without warning the desk sergeant, he pulls a sawed off shotgun out of trash bag and puts it on the counter. The cop probably pooped right there.

The law is stupid, but he did his best to bring the wrath upon himself. No one deserves to get busted for being a good samaritan. But he didn't exercise much good sense to keep himself out of trouble. Good laws or bad, you gotta be smart about it. Freedom and liberty aren't guaranteed to overcome stupidity.
 
am curious about certain details.

He finds a trash bag in his yard containing something heavy, but doesn't carefully peek inside. Instead, he carries it in the house and puts it on the table. It could contain dog feces or a bomb or a snake, but he carries the bag inside without looking. Only on his kitchen table does he open it and discover its contents.
Click to expand...

We do not know the details as they really happened. The media is often wrong, they often leave out key components, and they often state tiny facts that didn't even happen.

Perhaps the guy did find it or know what it was before bringing it inside. Leaving it out by the sidewalk as kids walk to school is probably not an ideal situation.
Maybe in anti-gun Britain he thought about keeping it. Or maybe he was simply scared or unsure what the procedure would be when he did report it (clearly with good reason).
Considering the government over there, calling the police over to report the firearm on his land may indeed have resulted in him and his house being searched. Perhaps he thought he could avoid that by bringing it to them?

Either way he was not convicted of bringing the firearm to them, but rather of possessing it at all.
There is no exemption under the law, so possession at all is a crime.
Presumably that would mean even if he called them to his place he would be guilty of the same crime, and they would also have cause to search his place and treat him as a criminal.


Earlier this year it became a crime to take a picture of police, or videotape them in the UK. If they ask you not to and you do you can be given 10 years in prison.
So you cannot even video tape them to hold them accountable anymore.
See them harassing or beating someone across the street? Pulling out that camera could result in 10 years in prison. Want to tape them when they come over? Too bad. In a nation where they have CCTV monitoring most of the nation it is a crime to actually monitor or record those responsible for monitoring you.
 
ants said:
I am curious about certain details.

He finds a trash bag in his yard containing something heavy, but doesn't carefully peek inside. Instead, he carries it in the house and puts it on the table. It could contain dog feces or a bomb or a snake, but he carries the bag inside without looking. Only on his kitchen table does he open it and discover its contents.

Then, he keeps the shotgun and ammo in the house overnight, waiting until the next day to take it to the police station. At the police counter, without warning the desk sergeant, he pulls a sawed off shotgun out of trash bag and puts it on the counter. The cop probably pooped right there.

The law is stupid, but he did his best to bring the wrath upon himself. No one deserves to get busted for being a good samaritan. But he didn't exercise much good sense to keep himself out of trouble. Good laws or bad, you gotta be smart about it. Freedom and liberty aren't guaranteed to overcome stupidity.
Click to expand...

With the clear vision of 20/20 hindsight, there's no argument from me that he handled things badly. He should have called the police and told them explicitly what was going on. The elements of "gun" "police" and "surprise" never mix well, so it's not too surprising that he was arrested. However at some point cooler heads should have prevailed. Instead this zero tolerance nonsense took over.
 
do it the american way ...

make a boat trip and have it accidently fall overboard ...
 
I am a little leary about commenting on this subject, each and every time I reply to a political thread I get an infraction, but here goes anyway. We sit here and laugh and joke about the stupid laws in other countries is a joke in itself. What we should be doing is protesting the stupid gun laws we presently have that violate our 2nd Amendment Rights and also protesting the anti gun laws that are pending approval. If the present administration has their way we will be in the same boat as the UK before 2012.
 
I could be completely off base here, but I think that a reasonable comparison to make is what would happen if someone found a medium to large quantity of illegal drugs on their property? Call the police immediately? Dump it in the nearest river/stream and hope no one sees you doing it or finds it later?

Also, I'm no lawyer, but it seems like prosecutors around here have a fair amount of discretion in deciding how to handle cases. Wouldn't this be a time to tell someone, "Look, what you did was illegal, but you were trying to do the right thing so we'll just let it slide this time." If the Brits want to get guns off of their streets why wouldn't they have no questions asked turn-ins periodically?
 
Guys I live in England. Hell I live in Surrey damn nearly.

This thing is getting much debate on www.airgunbbs.com , the biggest U.K shooting forum.

There is much more to this case than meets the eye.







p.s

We could do with some help putting the Queen back in power though :)
 
I feel bad for y'all in the UK- -but not bad enough to move back to the Mother COuntry... :(
 
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I'd say that if that's the level of stupidity the British legal system is working at now, just keep the shotgun. You're going to be in trouble if you turn it in anyways, so just keep it in the event you ever need it. And then fight it in court later.
 
Like I said in my previous post Stuckinsocal, there's more to this than meets the eye. Things like this happen all the time, and no-one gets 5 years for handing in a firearm they found somewhere.
 
A serving Police Officer, (Sim G), has made this statement on UK a Forum, www.guntrader.co.uk which if true would explain the case..........

http://www.guntrader.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=137773&p=156821#p156821

How about the bloke was dishonourably discharged from the Army for stealing ammo? Or that he was suspected of shooting another doorman over drug business, but the case was discontinued due to lack of evidence, ie a gun? Or how about the fact that the shotgun he handed in had previously been licensed to him and had had the barrels and stock cut off and a partial serial number recovered through forensics as the number had not been ground off enough?
 
we need a New World Order....


yeah...


BUT

government by the people.

if all the UK people ( 61,000,000) go to the streets demanding their gun law back i'm sure they will have it in a week. but if only 61 individual show up... they will get arrested.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Y
  • Locked
More UK Stupidity: Find gun, give it to police, go to jail
Replies
14
Views
779
Justin
Justin
F
  • Locked
More zero tolerance nonsense.
Replies
9
Views
905
ravinraven
R
V
  • Locked
This is impossible. They don't have guns in England.
Replies
3
Views
477
geekWithA.45
G
N
  • Locked
More UK madness: Update
Replies
4
Views
535
Art Eatman
A
T
  • Locked
Are armed criminals in the UK treated better than armed citizens?
Replies
8
Views
556
Fosbery
F
Back
Top