I dunno. But a couple have received the maximum for the charges brought against them (six months). Certainly in one case a chap has recieved 6 months for pinching bottles of water valued at £3.50. I can't condone his crime, but a prison record for such petty theft is likely to just fuck up his life, push him toward crime and in the end cost ME, the taxpayer more money. Short termism at it's worst IMO. I'm all for punishing the worst offenders, but lets get some perspective PLEASE. And arming cops doesn't seem to have done you guys much good to judge from the US crime stats, no?
I won't cry any tears over prison fucking up the guy's life, although you have a point about taxpayer money. Not from the US, lol. I'm Malaysian, but spent most of my years overseas, including in Singapore. Private firearms are virtually illegal in Singapore, cops routinely pack heat and the crime rate (including gun crime) is pretty darn low. I don't see why the UK can't do the same.
In the beginning the lack of guns for cops was to keep them from seeming too much like soldiers, it's also why they dressed in blue. But they used to issue a hand full of side arms per division.
And what's so bad about cops seeming like soldiers? Hell, in France and Italy whole branches of the cops ARE soldiers. Such a bearing would show they mean business. Take it away and people think they're impotent stooges.
I would TOTALLY be rioting and stealing stuff. I would probably get caught up in the excitement and hit people also, just for fun. That kind of violence is just intoxicating!
The history of the British Police is an interesting one when it comes to firearms. A quick overview on wikipedia indicates there was a time when they were armed, but I cannot find anything that details when guns became the strict purview of the CO19 (formerly SO19) Armed Response Unit. I'm still unable to find anything verifiable as whether the man whose death these riots are largely a response to, actually opened fire on the police. However most of the rioters, as has been noted by board members who are IN the UK, have little relation to the man and are merely opportunists and thugs using it as an excuse. It is possible that gun control issues and the idea of arming the British Police Force as a whole may become focal points of discussion once this debarcle is under control.
Because not every country has a history of a Gendarme type force being positive. Britain's Yeomanry (the closest you can come to a Gendarme) was specifically removed from what we would call police duties because of it's involvement in massacres like Peterloo. When modern police forces developed in Britain they were done as civil rather than military organizations so they wouldn't seem to be a tool of the gentry and aristocracy. Which the army very much was at the time.
I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. My belief is that you have a generation of entitlement (let's face it, and no offense to the younger members, but 23 and younger are all walking around with a sense of entitlement) that feel that they are owed something. All their life they have been told their special, they're gifted, and all through it they've been babied due to fear of retaliation (whether it be at home or at school) because anyone who tries to actually administor some punishment to misbehaving ends up losing their job or their kids. So you have a bunch of kids who have never been forced NOT to do something (and instead are only told not to do something) who all feel they are entitled to more than they're being given, and you give them a group mentality and a few nutcases and you have the riots you see. I have those people at work - the "this place can't run without me" people. Not only has it run without you, but it can continue to run without you. It's getting that message across that you're only worth what you make and if you discover you're worth more than that be humble about it. I got spanked as a kid if I misbehaved. If I fucked up, I feared my parents. Today a kid can get on Facebook and say "Fuck my dad for touching me" and the next thing you know the kid is in a foster home as the parents are investigated because the dad smacked the kid for misbehaving. You get what you wanted. So congratulations those of you who didn't want the next generation to face any possible consequences for their actions other than a firm "NO!" ... you reap what you sew. Enjoy your riots.
see, here's someone who understands. Actually, I can't really see myself getting caught up in it. Not because I'm necessarily a more moral person, but probably more because I just haven't tended to be the sort to get swept up in any kind of mass movement. It's not so much the fearlessness and lack of discipline that bothers me. It's the fact that many of these rioters appear to have grown up with a profound lack of respect and empathy. The reason I don't torch people's homes and beat up the weak, and rob anything I want isn't because I grew up to fear retribution or punishment. It's because I would hate for someone to do that to me or members of my family. It might also have something to do with being comfortable enough to have other options and better things to do with my time, but I really don't know. They say psychopaths lack empathy, and I was certainly aware there were people like that out there. Some real scumbags. What's particularly depressing is to see so many of them come out of the woodwork. Had no idea they were so great in number.
What I like about this post is how pathetic it is. No intellectual response, no inner strength, which makes perfect sense. You may now go and flip and burn cars in your country, where it is safe to do so without my bullets perforating your skull in righteous retaliation.
If everyone had guns... then... perhaps... the rioters would also have guns?!?!?!?! An armed population isn't going to prevent these kinds of riots.
I find it dumb that they burned their freaking town over something that could be easily conversed about.
