Another gun post

An interesting post over at Gun Culture. Not so sure about the book's title though.

A misplaced sense of decency stifles debate

Some of the assertions that are made in this article by Dr Mick North and carried on the BBC website are so clearly incorrect that I can only imagine that some sort of misplaced sense of "decency" prevents them being more assertively challenged by journalists (whose job it is to do this sort of thing):

If guns were less easily available they would be less likely to be misused, and so everything possible should be done to limit access to such dangerous weapons.

Since the post-Dunblane ban on hand-guns, their presence in the hands of criminals and the willingness of these same individuals to use them has increased alarmingly. Even at an anecdotal level, this contradicts the above statement which itself is merely the starting point to introduce even more stringent legislation governing legal gun ownership while conveniently doing nothing about the number of illegally held weapons that are used in precisely the same kind of way that Dr North is so keen to prevent.
In relation to mass murder and the rule of terror by local warlords in the African continent he goes on to claim:

This terror would be impossible were the Lords Resistance Army not armed with guns.

So, presumably before the introduction of guns there was no terror ergo by removal of guns will bring a removal of terror? Well intentioned but nonetheless incredibly naïve.

Personally, I do not blame Dr North for seeking some sort of vengeance against the implement that was used with such murderous intent to rob him of his daughter and her of her life.
I do think it is important to realise that campaigns such as the Snowdrop Petition which are fuelled solely by sympathy end up doing nothing or very little at best to prevent the very acts that they seek to eradicate. The media, conscious of the widespread emotional support that such campaigns can generate end up giving the campaigns an easy ride for fear of appearing to be supporting the campaign and so lose readers. A prime example of this was the imbecilic reportage in the Daily Record at the time which was nothing short of pathetic as far as objective journalism is concerned. While the liberties of law abiding citizens are further reduced, the problem remains. This applies equally to any justification for "eroding" liberties at the expense of supposedly reducing the hazards faced by the general population.

I can't help thinking of the following quote which appeared as a recent post at Samizdata:

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it.

- H.L. Mencken

[edited for numerous mis-spelligns 09/06/06]

Beckett lets the cat out of the bag.

From Pendennis in Sunday's Observer.

'Many Labour opinion-formers, particularly those favoured by Gordon Brown, saw foxhunting as the first step. There are ongoing private discussions about how to stop the fishing and shooting,' says a lobby source. 'They're terrified, though, of losing four million fishermen's votes in one fell swoop, so are proceeding with great caution.'

All, it seems, apart from Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for the Environment, who is directly in charge of countryside (and country sports) policies. When she appeared on the Today programme, she announced, unchecked: 'When we get rid of all the other blood sports, there will still be the House of Commons.'

No great secret and should it prove true, merely proves the suspicions that I've had for quite some time now. Thing is, given the previous track record of Blair throwing his baying back-benchers a nice juicy morsel of some Old Labour "anti-toff" legislation as a reward for them doing his bidding on something trivial like anti-terrorism or Identity Cards, will he use up the remaining field sports still left in one fell swoop or would he be best to keep something in reserve? No doubt we shall soon find out.

Expensive emptiness

There was me thinking that this post at Freedom & Whisky was about the current state of the Scottish Parliament. Tsk, that shall teach me to be a cynic.

Magic moments

as I get a call from my brother to tell me that I am now a proud uncle to a charming little niece, born this afternoon!
Words fail me (as they often do).

Curtains to cretins

Tomorrow will be the 60th anniversary of Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, made in Fulton, Missouri, USA. In stark contrast, last night saw Phoney Tone elaborate on the religious element of his executive powers and generally acting the part of the "I'm really just one of the lads, honest" yet again. Regaling tales of dope-smoking father-in-laws etc. with Parky and Kevin Spacey, the man's ability to diminish what little respect I have left for him seems quite uncanny. As Stephen Fry once said, "sometimes there doesn't seem to be enough vomit in the world".

V for Vendetta, N for Nepotism

From Popbitch:

How to blow up the Houses of Parliament
Two years ago, Richard Curtis was refused permission to film in 10 Downing Street for "The Girl In The Cafe". Government officials said they were sorry, but it was a government building, not a film set. Yet last June, "V For Vendetta", the Wachowskis' new film, which opens here this month, managed to get Whitehall shut down for four nights to film the Tube and Houses of Parliament getting blown up by a bomber dressed as Guy Fawkes. So either the Prime Minister's people are huge fans of the Matrix and fantasy movies, or they're less sniffy about granting access to parliamentary buildings if Euan Blair is given a job as a runner by the producers...

Tax avoidance and evading comprehension

A nice post at Martin Kelly's. Maybe someone should write to the BBC and differentiate between avoidance and evasion in terms of TV licences.
"If I sell or otherwise dispose of my TV then I avoid being liable for payment of a TV licence. If I do own a TV and fail to purchase a TV licence then this is evasion".
Simple enough for a journalist to understand now?

Group tyranny

Timoth Garton Ash, here.

"If someone says "the Nazis didn't kill so many Jews and had no plan for their systematic extermination", he is a distorter of history who deserves to be intellectually refuted and morally condemned, but not imprisoned. If, however, someone says "kill the Jews", or "kill the Muslims", or "kill the Americans", or "kill the animal experimenters", and points to particular groups of Jews, Muslims, Americans or animal experimenters, they should be met with the full rigour of the law."

Intellectual refuation and moral condemnation seem about right, alongside being made the object of scorn and ridicule. Very few people have taken David Irving seriously for quite some time now, especially since the loss of his libel case against Deborah Lipstadt.
Putting people in jail for expressing an opinion, no matter how distasteful and objectionable it is, seems self-defeating. Someone imprisoned for Holocaust denial could claim that the imprisonment somehow acts as a sort of implicit verification of their claims. The case for imprisonment is entirely different when it comes to those who proclaim and encourage violence as the principle method of achieving their stated aims. The cowardly fanatics that populate the likes of the Animal Liberation Front finding themselves occupying a prison cell would be good thing, not least due to the fact that imprisonment is generally considered something of an impediment when it comes to carrying out acts of terrorism in the name of animal "rights".

By Toutatis!!

As any childhood fan of Asterix & Obelix will recollect, the Celts had an ancient fear of the sky falling down upon their heads. Well, someone has obviously upset the gods down in Holyrood. From the pictures shown on the link, it is not immediately obvious that part of the roof structure has failed. Kind of sums up the Scottish Parliament and it's occupants quite aptly.

Linda Smith

I shall miss Linda Smith's rather unique sense of humour which could be somewhat acerbic yet wonderfully understated. Two nuggets as selected by Simon Hoggart in his tribute to her in today's Guardian demonstrate these qualities to the full:

"David Mellor, the thinking woman's fat, ugly bastard. The last woman to run her fingers through his hair was the nit nurse."

"I do sympathise with Bush and Blair trying to find WMDs. I'm like that with my scissors. I put them down, then I search all over the house, and I never find them. Of course, I do know that my scissors exist."