BadMedicine
Moderator
I'm not sureif this has been posted before, I don't get a chance to read all of the posts, my apologies if this is a duplicate.
You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door.
Half awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers.
At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way.
With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick
up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber,
then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two
shadows. One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the
intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire.
The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while
the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.
As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.
In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that
are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless.
Yours was never registered.
Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died.
They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession
of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to
worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.
"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask. "Only ten-to-twelve
years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and
you'll be out in seven."
The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper.
Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two
men you shot are represented as choir boys. Their friends
and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried
deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both
"victims" have been arrested numerous times. But the next day's headline
says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have
been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters.
As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up,
then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk
hero. Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll
probably
win.
The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized
several times in the past and that you've been critical of
local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the
suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you
would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege
that you were lying in wait for the burglars.
A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been
reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When
you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works
against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean,
vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of
all charges. The judge sentences you to life in prison.
This case really happened. On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth,
Norfolk, England, killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000,
he was convicted and is now serving a life term.
How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great
British
Empire? It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable
law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that
handgun
sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of
1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms
except
shotguns. Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any
weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.
Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the
Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man
with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw.
When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.
The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control",
demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned
handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.) Nine years
later,
at Dunblane, Scotland, Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to
murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.
For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally
unstable,
or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up
law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up
all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The
Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearm
still owned by private citizens.
During the years in which the British government incrementally took away
most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed
self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism.
Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened,
claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a
gun.
Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the
real criminals were released. Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a
police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law
into their own hands."
All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several
elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no
fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen
most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.
When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given
three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British
> >subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by
> >police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't
> >comply.
> >
> >
> >Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000
> >handguns from private citizens.
> >How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been
> >registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.
> >
> >
> >Sound familiar?
> >
>
> >
> >WAKE UP AMERICA, THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND
> >AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.
> >"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
> >tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." Samuel
> >Adams
> >
>
You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door.
Half awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers.
At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way.
With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick
up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber,
then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two
shadows. One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the
intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire.
The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while
the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside.
As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.
In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that
are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless.
Yours was never registered.
Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died.
They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession
of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to
worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.
"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask. "Only ten-to-twelve
years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and
you'll be out in seven."
The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper.
Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two
men you shot are represented as choir boys. Their friends
and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried
deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both
"victims" have been arrested numerous times. But the next day's headline
says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have
been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters.
As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up,
then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk
hero. Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll
probably
win.
The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized
several times in the past and that you've been critical of
local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the
suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you
would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege
that you were lying in wait for the burglars.
A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been
reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When
you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works
against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean,
vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of
all charges. The judge sentences you to life in prison.
This case really happened. On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth,
Norfolk, England, killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000,
he was convicted and is now serving a life term.
How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great
British
Empire? It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable
law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that
handgun
sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of
1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms
except
shotguns. Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any
weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.
Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the
Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed man
with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw.
When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.
The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control",
demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned
handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.) Nine years
later,
at Dunblane, Scotland, Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to
murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.
For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally
unstable,
or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up
law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up
all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The
Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearm
still owned by private citizens.
During the years in which the British government incrementally took away
most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed
self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism.
Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened,
claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a
gun.
Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the
real criminals were released. Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a
police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law
into their own hands."
All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several
elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no
fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen
most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.
When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given
three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British
> >subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by
> >police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't
> >comply.
> >
> >
> >Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000
> >handguns from private citizens.
> >How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been
> >registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.
> >
> >
> >Sound familiar?
> >
>
> >
> >WAKE UP AMERICA, THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND
> >AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.
> >"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate,
> >tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." Samuel
> >Adams
> >
>