"Offensive Weapons" in the UK

[Minimalist]

I've used this argument time and time again: if you remove a right to any sort of weapon, the only people with the weapons are the government and the criminals...neither of whom should ever be allowed to have all the weapons.

Yeah, Divi Tiberio, that argument is thrown around all the time by the gun nuts here. What it leads to is..........

[Cyberman]

Maybe it's me splitting hares again but I don't see it as removing the right to own a weapon, or rather to carry one in public, rather than not recognising it as a right. Anyone who flouts the law, such as carrying an item defined in law as an offensive weapon, automatically becomes a criminal. Everything that follows is the purview of the courts.

Incidentally, other than politics and diplomacy the government doesn't actually have weapons. They rely on the police and the armed forces for that.

[Minimalist]

A distinction which is narrowing, Stim.

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20121.../121129860

[Cyberman]

That particular distinction has been narrowing for a long time. Over here, Thatcher's use of the police as a paramilitary force against the striking miners was something of a watershed, one which defined the eighties and progressed into the CCTV paranoia of the nineties and noughties.

[Waratah]

I honestly don't know. I can see reasoning both for and against, but I Googled, and yes, one can carry a non-concealed weapon in some states. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_carry_...ted_States

<snipped>

Thanks for that. After reading your link I think it is generally okay to openly carry with different limitations in the various states.

[Chas]

To those of you who don't think people should have weapons, specifically firearms, I don't believe you are being realistic.

I have a right to my person, my safety. I have weapons to help enforce my right.

Remember: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

[Cyberman]

Interestingly, I have somehow managed to survive unscathed and unmolested for some forty-three summers - and a shitload more winters - without the need to carry so much as a pepper spray. I have no idea why. Unless I don't happen to live in some Sam Peckinpah/Quentin Tarantino snuff fantasy, I suppose.

[Minimalist]

Remember: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

Which leaves you an interesting quandary.

Here you are, armed to the teeth, walking down the street, when from the side someone says "Hey, buddy."

Do you whip out your gun and blow him away on the supposition that his next words would be "stick 'em up?"

Suppose his next words were "do you know the time?"

Is not knowing the time really a capital offense in your world?

Of course, you could leave your gun in its holster and turn and say "yes." In which case, if he is an armed robber and already has his gun out yours will not do you a hell of a lot of good. In fact, he'll probably steal that from you too along with your wallet.

Decisions. Decisions.

[jonb]

Interestingly, I have somehow managed to survive unscathed and unmolested for some forty-three summers - and a shitload more winters - without the need to carry so much as a pepper spray. I have no idea why. Unless I don't happen to live in some Sam Peckinpah/Quentin Tarantino snuff fantasy, I suppose.

Who needs weapons, when we are armed with british teeth.

[Cyberman]

Speak for yourself; I have American teeth. Also French and a couple of Italian I think. I've made a necklace out of them.