The Crime Superboard BLOG

I am the Owner of "The Crime Superboard", which can be found at...

http://thecrimesuperboard.pro-forums.com

...and, I can be E Mailed, at...

thegodsplinter@btinternet.com

This blog is here to house my thoughts about crime in the UK/World and about self-defence and Self Defence Implements (SDIs).

---

(Some of this text may already appear elsewhere on The Crime Superboard's BLOG!)

---

YOUTHS AND KNIVES

I believe almost all youths who tell us, when challenged, that they are in possession of knives for self-defence purposes.

Let's remember that those youths...somebody's children...are the ones who have to be out there, on the spot, sometimes confronting other people's knives! For one or two of those youths, disarmament might one day equal death!

One day, when they are confronted by a pulled knife, their parents will not be there to remove the threat and the Police certainly won't be around to help them remain safe/alive.

An official, crisp piece of paper, with legislation details densely printed on it forms no barrier for a rapidly approaching knife-point...the Law isn't in time, or robust enough, to give them any protection at stab time!

These youths who say that they carry knives for self-defence are simply adapting, for their own purposes, an extention to the general human tendency to just want to remain alive, after all!
     Many youths who carries knives in 2008 are keen to stand a greater than 0% chance of survival when a knife is, one day, pulled on them. Let's face it: if they are approached by a youth with a knife and that youth with the knife is not going home until he's cashed his victim in, they're as good as dead already, because they've nothing with them, or around them, that will change their attacker's mind. Power hunger could conceivably make animals of any of us - and, certainly of a yob with a knife who is bent on using it, regardless of whether or not there is a good reason.

Without a counter-incentive that they RESPECT and appreciate the strength of, the yob with the knife is not going to leave - he's going to stab!

Now, think of this: think of yourself as an attacker.

If you pulled a knife out on an apparently unarmed person, intending to harm them with that knife, you'd think twice if they then pulled out a knife of their own and looked just as ready to use theirs, on you, as you thought you looked to use yours, on them!
     Youths are intelligent enough to work out that that very stand-off will probably save their lives, one day. Given how close to impossible it now is to prevent youths carrying knives, or to make them see a reason not to, that stand-off is essential to the good-guys' prayers that the yob with a knife will walk it away, without using it!

---

Stainless Steel Russian Roulette

You may suspect that Russian roulette requires a firearm, to be played. You're wrong! For youths deciding whether or not to carry knives, it's a daily game and not a comforting one to have to play!

What should they be more afraid of:

(1) being found with a knife on their person?...or;
(2) being found dead because they left their knife at home?

In the world of youths and knives, there is another version of Russian Roulette. This version is where the youths, instead of carrying a knife, listen to such urgings as: "Don't carry a knife...you'll be much safer without one." A youth, on hearing that hopeful "Don't...", might consider leaving his knife at home...but, of course, not all youths will do that.

(Obey, don't obey! Obey, don't obey! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive!)

This version of Russian Roulette is played when the youth leaves his own knife at home, and then discovers that the other player didn't. That, to my view, is not a bluff safe for them to call - but, some youths will and will die because of it!

The greatest gamble isn't taken by the youth who carries a knife - it's taken by the youth who listens to adults and decides to no longer carry one.

This form of Russian Roulette then moves to the next level, where the enemy's knife is spun around for a while, and the blade point ends up inside your child, from somewhere outside them and where their own knife (acting on "official" advice received) ends up back home, pointing somewhere useless as they bleed their last drop of blood onto a paving slab as cold as their attacker's heart!

Some youths will be disarmed to death by the Police, or by their own parents!

(Yes...it seems hard to stomach, but it's true! As hard to face as it may seem, some parents reading this will one day attend the funeral of one of their children precisely because that youth once ended a habit of carrying their own self-defence blade, owing to the preachings of the Police or of the parents, themselves. It's almost too horrible to palate, but it's a cruel truth about this mess!)

(Obey, don't obey! Obey, don't obey! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive!)

Leaving a knife at home is so bad for your child's health,
smarter youths already have the foresight to ban it!

Ask yourself: honestly, can we condemn youths for exploiting the stand-off?

Do you see any other agency swooping in to protect them when about to be attacked by the carrier of a knife?

Should they run? You think that they should turn and run? Do you think that they might be safer with their backs turned towards a knife attacker's blade? All they need do is slow down to take a look behind them, to see if their knife attacker has stayed behind, or fallen behind...and, that glance back might well slow them enough to kill them!
     And, what if they're too afraid to run, or had no chance to do the turning before the running? What if they've already been punched/kicked, to the ground, before anybody's knife is pulled and then get the joy of seeing one pulled while they're still on the ground.

Whatever we order them to do should be safe for them to do!

(Obey, don't obey! Obey, don't obey! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive!)

The ugliness of this need for knife carrying is that...it will never go away.

Given their frequently stated "self-defence" motivation, we can't criticise youths using their brains against a situation that never reduces in the face of adults' efforts to make it go away. We adults have let them down...every last buried one of them.
     Their knives can daily prove how carrying a knife can make another knife go away! The words "intention to use" should be dispensed with, for now, and replaced with, "intention to show." They want a degree of safety that the Government and the Police simply cannot provide.

---

THE STAINLESS STEEL STAND-OFF RULES

Nuclear Weapon Retention As A Bad Example For Youths To See

OUR GOVERNMENT USES THE SAME STAND-OFF PRINCIPLE TO JUSTIFY RETENTION OF OUR ENTIRE NUCLEAR ARSENAL!

What right have we to criticise youths for such similarly intelligent choices ("If I've got one, you're less likely to use yours on me!") when our very Government sets an arguably bad example by perpetuating the possession of our nuclear weapons for a reason based on the precisely same notion?

Youths learn a lot from adults, even when they determine not to!

Youths have learned that the Mexican stand-off is far less painful and less terminal than adult wisdoms and whinings! Adults of not always the right sort taught youths how self-defence knife carrying works and the nuclear picture is probably only one example!

(Obey, don't obey! Obey, don't obey! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive! Bleed-to-death, stay-alive!)

---

Police Officers Carrying Weapons As A Bad Example For Youths To See

OUR POLICE OFFICERS USE THE SAME STAND-OFF TO JUSTIFY RETENTION OF THEIR OWN SELF-DEFENCE IMPLEMENTS!

When youths see that the Police have a jolly array of Self Defence Implements on their person, they see something similar in that. The Police are proving the youths right, about the need for self-defence tools on the street!
     If the Police need such Self Defence Implements on them, while out on duty, what right do the Police have to lecture youths in how the carrying of self-defence knives is more likely to get them attacked?
     The Police either are walking proof that Self Defence Implements are desperately needed while out in British society, today, or they are hypocrites for telling youths that things are not that bad!

Youths are not fools - they know
precisely how bad it is, out there!

So, the Government's nuclear policy and, now, the British Police Service are both in error because they dictate one thing, but live by its exact opposite - they say "don't keep your weapons" - but, they retain / carry weapons, themselves. How can youths not be confused by this conflict of advice?
     One day, the nature of knife-deaths will shift. Some former knife-carrying youths will actually bleed to death for having dutifully obeyed the Law, and left their knives at home!

Also: sooner or later, parents and guardians will actually entertain the notion that they may actually manage to secure longer lives for their children if they turn a blind eye to their children carrying knives for just that purpose.

It's bizarre, but very possible!

---

What Is The Answer To This Youths And Knives Situation?

Simple, but far from straight-forward.

You have to replace the blades youths want to carry, "for self-defence", with another type of Self Defence Implement and make it legal to own, to carry and to use in the street.
     It has to be a self-defence implement that would be easy to sue for the purpose of defending your child against a knife attack, but will also be harder to kill somebody with than would be a knife. For example - a weapon that can be utilised against only limbs (especially against a hand holding a knife?) effectively stopping a knife attack without causing death.

Self defence will be very possible with these items and, even if misused, would be less likely to kill than would be a knife of any form. Offer the youths a legal implement exchange, away from knives and towards something else...something good at removing the threat of somebody else's knife!

The only Self Defence Implement that fits this bill is the SD Baton detailed elsewhere on this "The Crime Superboard BLOG".

YOU HAVE TO REPLACE THE SELF-DEFENCE KNIVES WITH SOMETHING EQUALLY GOOD AT BEING USED TO DEFEND THE SELF WITHOUT BEING SO EASY TO KILL WITH!

But, remember this, for now, about youths and knives:

SOME YOUTHS ARE DAMNED-IF-THEY-DO, OR DEAD-IF-THEY-DON'T!

TheGodSplinter

I am the Owner of "The Crime Superboard", which can be found at...

http://thecrimesuperboard.pro-forums.com

...and, I can be E Mailed, at...

thegodsplinter@btinternet.com

This blog is here to house my thoughts about crime in the UK/World and about self-defence and Self Defence Implements (SDIs).

------------------------------

(Some of this text may already appear elsewhere on The Crime Superboard's BLOG!)

------------------------------

Some Downsides To Legally Owned/Carried SD Batons

EVERY SELF DEFENCE IMPLEMENT IS, BY NATURE, A WEAPON, ALSO (WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF SHIN-PADS AND SUITS OF ARMOUR!) THERE IS NO ESCAPING THE ESSENCE OF CAVEAT IN THAT DUAL DEFINITION!

THERE IS PROBABLY NO SUCH THING AS THE PERFECT SELF DEFENCE IMPLEMENT THAT IS NOT ALREADY ONE WHICH WE CAN DEFINE, ALSO, AS A WEAPON!

ASK THE POLICE - EVERY DAY, THEY CARRY WEAPONS WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO!

THE TRICK IS TO FIND, AND/OR DEVELOP, THE LEAST DEADLY ONES AND PERMIT US TO CARRY THEM, ACCORDING TO VERY STRICT GUIDELINES, RULES AND (HOPEFULLY, ONE DAY) LAWS.

NOT EVEN BRINGING IN THE DEATH PENALTY FOR STREET ASSAULTS WILL HAVE A BETTER EFFECT ON LESSENING THE VULNERABILITY THAT THE PUBLIC FEELS, OUT THERE, THAN WILL BE OUR GOVERNMENT GIVEN RIGHT TO BEAR THOSE SELF DEFENCE BATONS!

The baton that I have in mind cannot be made foolproof and super-safe for all (even predictable) instances of usage - no Self Defence Implement is totally safe for use; some are just less dangerous than others. If a Self Defence Implement was utterly and completely safe, it would be no use to us as a Self Defence Implement, but might serve as a really meaningful ornament in a window, somewhere!
     Given an opportunity to choose from a list of all possibles that includes the baton, the baton is the certainly the most controllable - the safest that could be adopted, for use. Batons are for hitting things, or people, with...so, how can they be "safe" for the recipient of the blow, or blows?
     For example: the baton may one day be used against the head of somebody with a cranial condition and that blow, or those blows, may render them unconscious, never to regain it, again. The cranial condition may not be known about by the Self Defender - in almost all cases, how could they possibly know the medical history of their attacker/s.
     Or, the blow from a baton may cause fatal internal consequences due to an impact on some other body part. A vein or artery could be smashed against a nearby bone, be breached by that pressure and the attacker might conceivably bleed to death while not even being aware that they are.

NO SELF DEFENCE IMPLEMENT IS PERFECT!

However, some are less imperfect than others and are, therefore, safer to use. If the Self Defence Baton was totally safe, it would be worthless as a Self Defence Implement!

But, the owner and bearer of a Self Defence Baton could still be risking a lot by banging away at an attacker with such a condition, without foreknowledge. Self Defence is too easy to convert to punishment at times of great fear or great anger, or at times of both. If it can be shown that a bearer of an SD Baton crossed the line and began to use the SD Baton as a means of inflicting punishment, then that bearer's SD Baton license is due for some points!
     The cushioning specification of the proposed SD Baton is a measure towards REDUCING INJURIES (especially reducing, or eliminating, bone damage) during use against an assailant and will be one of the factors instrumental in making these SD Batons more likely to one day be owned and carried by us, legally.

ONE SERIOUS RULE FOR THE BATON IS THAT IT OUGHT NEVER TO BE USED ON ANYBODY'S SPINE, NECK OR HEAD!
     If that rule is broken, by accident or by design, the owner of the SD Baton must be prosecuted, or at least investigated for this, if, in such a circumstance, it is believed true that misuse has taken place!

THE SD BATON LAW SHOULD, IN FACT, SPECIFY - IN A DEADLY SERIOUS WAY - THAT ONLY ARMS AND LEGS MAY BE ATTACKED WITH THE SD BATON...AT ALL!
     (If a knife can no longer be held, it can no longer be used and the danger (from the knife, at least) has passed!)

(POINTS ON A BATON LICENSE ARE A CONCEPT TO KEEP IN MIND, HERE!)

And, that works out a lot safer for the victim and the attacker - the attacker gets to stay alive and unmaimed and the Self Defender gets to spend the next 5-10 years OUTSIDE prison!

NOT ONLY SHOULD THE SD BATON BE CARRIED WITH A TREMENDOUS SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY - IT SHOULD BE USED IN THE FULL KNOWLEDGE THAT MISUSE WILL RESULT IN PROSECUTION! THE PUBLIC IN POSSESSION OF THEIR SD BATONS MUST LEARN, SOMETIMES QUITE SUDDENLY, OF WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE OF THAT MISUSE!

(I can even visualise an invisible "dye" being on the SD Baton and that dye then giving away wherever the striking head of it has gone during a Self Defence incident. The chemical left behind could be made able to identify a person (SD Baton owner) as a particular owner. One flaw (of probably many) in this idea is that there is a lot of chaos and struggling during an attack and during our self-defending, so this method of detecting where the SD Baton has been used, on the attacker's body, may be very unreliable.)

No possession of Self Defence Implements (and, specifically, here...Self Defence Batons) should eliminate the responsibility, on the owner and user, to ensure the minimum possible damage is done in securing safety from the attacker/s.
    The need for this crucial element is enough to inspire thoughts of safety procedures and even of training, involving a person and their Self Defence Baton.
    It should be very rare that a victim needs to kill an attacker where specific alternatives in the use of the SD Batons are available and are known to be LAW...not just alternatives!

------------------------------

The SD Baton As A Disarmer

Another benefit of the baton is that it can be used, primarily, as a disarmer of the attacker, by smashing their hand or arm where, on that side, a knife (or other attack weapon) is being brandished. It's better to smash their hand, or arm, than it is to maim them, or kill them. You get to walk away and they get to live - the SD Baton is the ideal Self Defence Implement to secure such an outcome!

THE MAGIC WORD, THERE, IS "DISARMER"!

All I'd need, during a knife attack on me, is a chance to cripple the hand holding the knife and then I'm off, home, where I'd sooner be, around then!
     If the attacker persists, refusing to back off or coming at me again, only angrier and in pain, I'm happy to remain at the scene and destroy that other hand with the SD Baton, too. When you start using an SD Baton to defend yourself, you strike at the heart of the attacker's ego and a demon dwells within that should not be confronted if you have a faint heart!
     After that, coming after me will be pointless, given that there is nothing left for him to hold his knife in! But, as long as the hand/s holding the knife is/are available for being pulped, there is no need for a victim to kill the attacker!

If kicks are used against the SD Baton carrier, during the attack, the ankles or shins can easily be repelled by use of the Baton, or made to feel so much pain that the owner of the ankles or shins couldn't possibly concentrate his efforts in any further assaults!
     I'd call that a fair response to somebody attempting to stop my family allowance with his latest, overpriced trainers!

IN USING THIS SD BATON, WE ARE LIKELY TO BE TRYING TO SAVE OUR OWN LIVES, FOR GOODNESS' SAKE - THERE MUST BE PAIN OR DISUASION CAUSED FOR OUR ATTACKER/S IN ORDER TO DO THAT, WITH SUCH A BATON!

------------------------------

The Holster As A Little Piece Of Home

I AM NOT KIDDING!

The SD Baton's holster should be legally defined as being a little piece of our homes taken along with us, while we are outdoors. As long as that SD Baton remains in that holster, it is as legal to have on us, outdoors, as it would be if we were indoors, at home, or at another's home.
     Effectively, while our SD Baton is out and about with us and is still snugly set down inside the holster, that SD Baton should be considered back home, until we draw it and start to use it.

But, from the first instant that counter and date/time stamper clicks because we extract the SD Baton from the holster, that SD Baton is now a Self Defence Implement about to be used in Self Defence, and the holder of it ought to be liable to prosecution under OFFENSIVE WEAPONS legislation, UNLESS, on arrival, the Police can see that it was taken out for self-defence purposes, only.
     The Law should consider preventing the carrying or, or ownership of the license for, the SD Baton, once a person begins to take the SD Baton out at a time when such was not warranted.

EVERY MISUSE OF A SELF DEFENCE BATON ENDANGERS OUR RIGHTS TO CONTINUE CARRYING OUR OWN!

The Law should also completely outlaw possession of an SD Baton, even still in the item's holster, if the carrier has ANY alcohol in their bloodstream, at all, or is found to be under the influence of drugs!
     Judgement impairment, due to alcohol intake, might one day cause misuse, or overuse and result in a death whereas, had the carrier/user not been under the influence, the attacker might have been disuaded from pursuing the attack without having to be killed!

CRUCIAL POINT: Alcohol and Self Defence Batons DO NOT MIX!

CRUCIAL POINT: Drugs' effects and Self Defence Batons DO NOT MIX, either!

------------------------------

Strict Controls On SD Batons Would Be Essential

The process of applying for, and getting the license to carry, our Self Defence Baton must NEVER be a simple, "rubber-stamped" affair!
     If we allow the buying and carrying of SD Batons to become "casualised", we are doing something similar to allowing hopeful, new drivers to just nip out and get a car and start driving. But, in the arena of driving, lessons, tests, delays and examinations are a feature. Along with making new users of cars/vehicles safer when they do start to drive on our roads, this removes the flavour of the casual from the process and gives learning time and consequences a fair chance to develop and sink in.
     A car can quickly become a weapon that can kill, if a person wields their own and has never been forced to take the time to given sufficient thought to their responsibilities in owning and/or driving it.

With the SD Batons, the rather stretched out application time, and tasks, would be designed along the same lines.
     Rather than have new SD Baton carriers just buy-and-go, they'd have to take seriously their responsibilities in acquiring, carrying and in using their Batons.
     The more time to adjust to their upcoming Baton ownership, fewer will be the times that that particular Baton is misused.

If you cut out that meditation and forethought period, the newcomers to carrying their SD Batons may not take seriously enough those responsibilities and the penalties associated with their improper use.

THE LENGTHY SD BATON APPLICATION PROCESS WOULD BE THERE TO KEEP PEOPLE AWARE OF THE BATONS' POTENTIALLY DEADLY PROPERTIES IN USE...THAT'S A TIME DURING WHICH THEIR AWARENESS WOULD GROW IN A HEALTHY MANNER!

This is like an extension to their self-defence, in fact.

Think about it this way: if they misuse their Batons, their license points will climb and, eventually, the license will be taken from them, along with their compulsorily surrendered Batons. Then, their personal self-defence capability will have just been drastically reduced.
     Forcing people to take time and put much thought into their ownership of an SD Baton is a way of making sure that that is less likely to ever happen.
     And, once their SD Baton has been taken away by the Police, the owner must wait for the full term of "confiscation" to be served and then must pay to get back their SD Baton.

And, it works better for all people allowed those Batons. If that long process isn't there for newcomers to Baton ownership and carrying, we might, after managing to win the right to bear them, see that right removed from us all.

The extra features that could be in some models of the SD Baton would be purely optional, however, including brightly flashing LED light on the holster, the screech personal attack alarm, etc.. But, members of the Public must still pay for their own licenses and Batons.

Every feature and provision concerning the SD Baton must be talked about at exhaustive length - some will, or may, work and other features may seem too unworkable or pointless to warrant further inclusion in the consulation processes.

------------------------------

I am the Owner of "The Crime Superboard", which can be found at...

http://thecrimesuperboard.pro-forums.com

...and, I can be E Mailed, at...

thegodsplinter@btinternet.com

This blog is here to house my thoughts about crime in the UK/World and about self-defence and Self Defence Implements (SDIs).

------------------------

In my home are valuables: those visible, those mostly hidden, those of sentimental value and those that are absolutely INVISIBLE to everybody, including to me.

Those in the last category include...

1. Dignity.
2. Privacy.
3. Safety.
4. Sacredness.
5. The right to be (and remain) safe.
6. The right to be able to protect my home from intruders.
7. The right to be able to protect my person from assailants.
8. The right to be able to protect my belongings from thieves.

Is it so much different for the Law Makers, that they cannot see the obvious?
     In this building, where I live, there is peace and quiet. This is the place in which I live my days.

It is my home.

- The only people who should get in here are those allowed in, by me.
- The only people who should remain here are those allowed to stay, by me.

Nobody else has the right to breach my personal space's integrity with uninvited entries and with intentions to steal or injure, when challenged.
     Once a burglar enters my property, he should be recognised, in British Law, as having surrendered his right to personal safety, even if that personal safety is not threatened, by me.
     He has breached my borders and must be dealt with in any manner I choose, depending on the predicament in which I judge myself to be, because of his unwanted intrusion.

There are exceptions to this, I will admit:

I should not be able to completely legally get away with maiming or killing a burglar simply because he is in my home and when he is not a clear physical threat to me.

This applies even more if, once confronting him I find that he is clearly wishing to leave, empty-handed, is showing no aggression and can be made to understand that I want to move out of his way and let him exit the property.

This burglar might one day be some parents' 14 years old son!

Even if I can justify having to kill him if he attacks me, or threatens to attack me, how can I justify destroying at least two other lives for their duration...the lives of his mother and father being only two examples?

I'd be ruining their lives, also, and I can't be allowed to do that!

But, if physical aggression is shown to me, with or without the burlgar wielding a "weapon" of any form, then I should be utterly clear in mind, and clean of conscience, in returning the attack with requisite force, using any legally owned (in my home) and carried (in my home) Self Defence Implement - blades and batons included.

The State tells us that Society and the State will protect me!

The State (Police Officers) happens not to be around in my home when I am forced to defend myself, and my property, from an intruder - and then, THAT FACT MUST FORCE INTO PLACE A RULE THAT ALLOWS ME TO DEFEND MYSELF THE WAY I SEE FIT!
     They clearly cannot arrive at my home quickly enough to protect me, anyway, and I'm already there and ready to protect me!

Given their absence, they must be presumed to have failed in creating the State's preferred protection for that particular intrusion.

Once it can be shown that the State is about to fail to protect me, via their Police Officers failing to attend and intervene in a timely manner, I ought to have a virtually rubber-stamped right to use absolutely any Self Defence Implement that I can, to release me from a dangerous situation, provided that I go no further than I require, in order to secure safety for me, for my home and for my belongings.

ITEM:  IT'S WORTH REMEMBERING THAT IT IS OUR GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE CALCULATEDLY MADE US LESS ABLE TO DEFEND OURSELVES!

ITEM:  IT IS OUR GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE CALCULATEDLY MADE US FAR MORE VULNERABLE TO MUGGINGS, SEX ASSAULTS AND BURGLARIES!

ITEM:  IT IS OUR GOVERNMENT WHO HAVE DELIBERATELY HAD THE INSOLENCE TO REACH RIGHT DOWN INTO YOUR HOME, AND MINE, AND RENDERED US ALMOST DEFENCELESS IN THE FACE OF ANY WHO CARE TO APPROACH AND ATTACK US!

If you want somebody to blame for the current crime climate in this country, and for the pitifully vulnerable state in which we find ourselves, then look no further than your Government!

Our myopic Government mugged us long before our attackers knew we even existed, and that same Government cuffed us, for defending ourselves, long before any Police Officers arrived at the scene!

We shouldn't even have to ask their permission - these vermin come into our homes and attack us!

We should demand the right to put down vermin traps and take anti-vermin measures as we see fit!

I am the Owner of "The Crime Superboard", which can be found at...

http://thecrimesuperboard.pro-forums.com

...and, I can be E Mailed, at...

thegodsplinter@btinternet.com

This blog is here to house my thoughts about crime in the UK/World and about self-defence and Self Defence Implements (SDIs).

------------------------------

WHY BATONS AND NO OTHER SELF DEFENCE IMPLEMENTS?

As much as I like knives and have proven how useful they can be to have with me, I doubt that knives, themselves, would be the ideal Self Defence Implement.

I think BATONS would be, though! Read on!

------------------------------

Why Not Knives

Once you've stabbed somebody, you have close to no control over what happens inside them, as a direct result of that stab. In most cases, you can forget First Aid - it won't save many! The overkill of the knife, even in the hands of the expertly trained (including very "damage-aware" surgeons) would leave injury looking too permanent and leave death looking far too likely. To try to find a "controlled" stabbing power and sinking depth, during an assault is impossible.

I think that we should not be allowed to routinely arm ourselves with bladed / spiked Self Defence Implements in our streets! We should be able to stop an attack on us without maiming or killing the attacker/s!  That, in itself, is an extension to our own self-defence - we shouldn't be allowed to put ourselves in a situation where we are arrested and given custodial sentences!  While we're serving those, our homes, belongings and families will be easy meat for the next burglary!

------------------------------

Why Not Guns

Once you've shot somebody, you have close to no control over what happens inside them, as a direct result of that bullet landing.
     We can't pretend that there is anything moderate about the effects of a bullet once it's inside somebody. A "gone" bullet obeys the laws of Physics...not the rules according to what we tell it.
     Some bullets fragment and the fragments tend to snake around, during impact, much the same as bullets do when fired into water. You can't predict where every fragments is going to go.

To try to find a "controlled" shooting/bullet power and sinking depth would be the mission of fools. It must also be remembered that, after a bullet has left your gun and hit the attacker, it could pass right through them and hit non-attackers, or innocent parties, after simply exiting on the far side, or having sheered off a bone: that collateral damage is unacceptable.

I think that we should not be allowed to routinely arm ourselves with firearm or airgun Self Defence Implements, in our streets! We should be able to stop an attack on us without maiming or killing the attacker/s!  That, in itself, is an extension to our own self-defence - we shouldn't be allowed to put ourselves in a situation where we are arrested and given custodial sentences!  While we're serving those, our homes, belongings and families will be easy meat for the next burglar!

------------------------------

Why Not Electrocution Devices

Once you've electrocuted somebody, you have close to no control over what happens to/inside them, as a direct result of that electric charge. The worst damage that electricity can do to them has probably already been done at the moment when you wonder if they'll survive.
     You don't know whether your assailant has a heart condition or medical conditions that make the electricity being used lethal, in their case.
     To try to find a "controlled" electric shock device that will effectively defend us by temporarily disabling our assailants would be pointless: such fine-tuned control with this form of instrument simply doesn't exist and the variations of different humans' responses to a current level would make trying to find such accuracy and safety close to impossible.

I think that we should not be allowed to routinely arm ourselves with any type of electrocution Self Defence Implements, in our streets! We should be able to stop an attack on us without maiming or killing the attacker/s!  That, in itself, is an extension to our own self-defence - we shouldn't be allowed to put ourselves in a situation where we are arrested and given custodial sentences!  While we're serving those, our homes, belongings and families will be easy meat for the next burglar!

------------------------------

Why Not Chemicals / Gas

Once you've sprayed a chemical substance (or a gas) at somebody's face, you have close to no control over how much of it they actually breathe in, or over the extent of the effects it may have on them. If they have greater sensitivity to the chemicals than most other people, the result may be terminal, for them.

Finding a "controlled" chemical spray capable of disabling an attacker, but not able to cause permanent systemic damage in them, or even the death of them, is unlikely to ever be achieved. If you spray a person right into an anaphylactic shock, you'd better be good at First Aid or even better at running, because you've probably just killed them and I utterly condemn you for not thinking, first!

I think that we should not be allowed to routinely arm ourselves with chemical (or gas) spray Self Defence Implements, in our streets! We should be able to stop an attack on us without maiming or killing the attacker/s!  That, in itself, is an extension to our own self-defence - we shouldn't be allowed to put ourselves in a situation where we are arrested and given custodial sentences!  While we're serving those, our homes, belongings and families will be easy meat for the next burglary!

------------------------------

Let's see where we are: No bladed tools/items, no spiked tools/items, no guns, no electrical tools/items, no airguns, no crossbows, no longbows (far too impractical), no chemical sprays, no gas sprays!

Hmmm! Things are starting to look a little thin on the ground, where self-defence is concerned! There is a reason for that: I'll say again...we should be able to stop an attack on us without maiming or killing the attacker/s!

------------------------------

Well, We Should All Become Martial Artists, Then

Once, it was suggested to me that all we had left to do was to go out and learn to use Martial Arts. Who? Everybody? Does that include the elderly or those who have medical reasons for not practising any of the Martial Arts?
     Attending at a sports-club or drill-hall, for 2-3 days a week, for a few years, before we are in any shape to replace Self Defence Implements with the Martial Arts? I don't think so...we could be dead in that time, probably several times over!
     The stupidity of Martial Arts (as amazing as they can be) as the only avenue left to us defies description, even though Martial Arts is the finest way of self-defending without having to maim, or kill, our assailants - that must be admitted, given the degree of control taught during Martial Arts schooling!

But, for most people, the Martial Arts option is simply not available or is outlandishly excessive in terms of time, affordability or availability!

------------------------------

The Only Self Defence Implements Left?

SHORT BATONS ARE THE ONLY SELF DEFENCE IMPLEMENTS
THAT GET CLOSE TO MAKING SENSE!

The rules of the Self Defence Baton would have to be strict and enforced, to the letter!

The specifications should be closely adhered to by all companies selling the SDI Batons!

- It would have to be of a specific length!
- It would have to be of a specific weight!
- It would have to have specific ownership code numbering!
- It must never be worn where it cannot be seen - no concealed weapon!

- It would have to have CUSHIONING covering the entire striking area, to make certain to dramatically reduce the instances of bone breaks - that's only fair (disarmament or a few precious seconds of disablement is all that we would need from these instruments. We're trying to get the attackers out of our lives - not evict them from theirs!)

- It should have a dedicated holster with an electronic counter built-in to register the number of times the baton has been withdrawn, and where/when. Every drawing of that person's baton must be explained, on demand, to any Police Officer, any (P)CSO or any other Officer representing the Local Authority.

- Some holster models would have a personal attack screech alarm built in and the baton should be impossible to withdraw until the end of 20 seconds of the start of that alarm sounding off!

- Some holster models would have GPS capability, in order to track/locate a victim more easily, situation depending.

The entire rig and the clerical and licensing costs must be met by the individual. And, if training is considered necessary, then they must pay for that training, also.

Nobody with a recorded history of violence / assaults / property damage (etc.,) should be given one of these. The risk is too great if the person has that history of violence; specifically unprovoked acts of violence, but this area of the issue would need to be hammered out by much consultation and discussion. Blood-alcohol levels must always remain a factor - if a person fails a breath test and are in possession of their baton, that person has committed an offence!
     To say that, because a person has a violent past, they deserve much less (or no) protection, when non-violent members of the Public are allowed it, sounds more than a little unfair - a multi-tiered self-defence right has an ugliness to the sound of it.

(Better minds than mine must work that part out!)

This is just my opening "take" on how we can become safer while walking streets that will remain populated by too many knife carriers, no matter what Laws are hand-crafted by our great and glorious Government!

TheGodSplinter.
___________________

"Salus Populi Suprema Est Lex" -
(The welfare of the people is the ultimate Law!)
Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

---

I am the Owner of "The Crime Superboard", which can be found here.

I can be E Mailed, at thegodsplinter@btinternet.com

This blog is here to house my thoughts about crime in the UK/World and about self-defence and Self Defence Implements (SDIs).

---

Knives, For Example's Sake

01: KNIVES ARE NOT THE ENEMY!
02: KNIVES CARRIED BY RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE ARE NOT THE ENEMY!
03: KNIFE CARRIERS INTENDING TO USE THEM TO HARM PEOPLE WITHOUT PROVOCATION OR JUST CAUSE...THEY ARE OUR ENEMIES!

I carried knives for over 25 years - until the Law on knives changed, in fact! Not once in that quarter of a century did I ever pull one of those knives on anybody in anger or without their weapon/s being shown to me, first.
     I am one reason to believe that the Government's policy on ALL KNIVES being disallowed for ALL PEOPLE in the country, is hopelessly wrong!

There are responsible carriers of knives and there are irresponsible carriers of knives!

Our self defence baby has been knee-jerkily thrown
out with the rushing bath-water of "offensive weapons" hysteria!

Many times, during those 25 years, I had to pull a knife and sternly indicate my readiness to use it in self-defence, if attacked by them, because somebody else tried to attack me with one of their own or with another type of weapon.
     On no occasion did I have to go further and the assailants walked away, or ran away - swearing, yes, but they went away and that was the idea of my knife! Once it was finished with, it went back in my pocket.
     The deterrent effect of weapons is almost as powerful as the effect of attacks using them! I wasn't carrying that knife to execute unprovoked injury: it was there to give me...

A GREATER THAN ZERO CHANCE OF SURVIVING THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF SOMEBODY ELSE'S KNIFE!

And, it did that job - brilliantly - all the way through that quarter of a century! It was my old faithful "sidearm" and it was almost a part of my pocket's daily life!
     I didn't cruise the streets for people to attack with it!
     I didn't amble around my home town hunting for people to stab, to see what would happen!
     I didn't use the presence of that knife in my pocket to make myself appear "big" or "tough"!
     I carried it because of that knife's ability to make me able to go my way and not feel as vulnerable as the stupid Government's current over-response to the ownership of knives and their responsible use leaves me (and, probably, YOU) feeling, now!

It's better to have a Self Defence Implement and not need it than it is to need a Self Defence Implement and not have it!

Make no mistake...I have NO REGRETS!

Once the others about to attack me walked away, my own knife was closed and put back in my pocket, and I continued on my way, happy at the deterrent effect it had had!
     Given that NONE of those potential attackers ever followed me and that I never had trouble from them, again, my own purpose in carrying a blade...was fulfilled!

I COULD STILL BE THAT SAFE AND THAT CALM AND CONFIDENT, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THIS GOVERNMENT'S OBSESSION WITH BANNING EVERY METALLIC ITEM EVER MENTIONED IN THE MEDIA!

It's only a matter of time before they ban...

...ballpens,
...cigarette lighters,
...metal combs,
...trouser belt buckles,
...Coca Cola can ring-pulls, and...
...front door keys!

Any fool who is ready to carry a knife and abuse it in a criminal manner is not going to be discouraged by Laws. In fact, the minds of most of those irresponsible animals are almost certainly not even stroked against by the imagined "Spectre" of "The Law" - they just take their knives along with them, take out their knives and USE THEM!

THUGS LAUGH AT THE KNIFE LAWS!

That's what thugs do just before breaking Laws!

The Lawmakers' hysteria about banning knives is becoming typically British.

---

The Nuclear Deterrent Effect Works

The wish to keep people safer is commendable, but it's not good to do it by blanket-banning in a country that subscribes to the commendable notion that, if the British have nuclear weapons, other countries will be seriously unlikely to attack them.
     That existence of their weapons shows that possession of offensive weapons is, as if we need to wonder, the only good deterrent to being attacked by those offensive weapons belonging to others!

The same (and safe) principle is true in British streets!

While are responsible people, going about our daily business in a harmless way, the possession of a Self Defence Implement that we are prepared to brandish at sensibly chosen times can be made to work on the same basis.
     The deterrent effect would work for us and against anybody less responsible or prepared to use their Self Defence Implements in an offensive manner.

They'll find ways of getting them and will rejoice in finding ways of using them (most often, not in self-defence.)

- Self Defence Implement prohibition stops more good folk with good intentions carrying them than it stops bad people with bad intentions carrying them!

- Self Defence Implement prohibition makes us weaker - not stronger!

Our Government is betraying us in removing our right to bear these Self Defence Implements!

---

Metal Detectors In Schools

And, having metal detectors in schools will become a joke (albeit a somewhat desirable one for the staff of the schools!) Most knife assaults committed by school students are committed out of school hours - especially on the way from, rather than to, school!
     So, even allowing for the fact that school teachers and students will be safer for the use of those school-based metal detectors, there will be almost no improvement to the knife crime numbers during hours not involving school times.
     The kids with knives will just get a good sized selection of them and hide/bury them around the town - including somewhere not far from the school, so that the knives are back in their possession, on their way home, after school!
     So, if you want metal detectors to somehow be another element in the Governmental hysterics about bladed weapons, you'd better start getting Civil Servants out there with full-sized metal detectors, in parks and all other grassy areas, desperately trying to locate where kids are hiding their knives during school hours!
     And, what will the Authorities do when kids start fashioning their hacking and stabbing weapons from wood? Will the Government put a fortune into research and development, for wood detectors?

---

Motives Behind Carrying Knives

CAN ANYBODY BE SO STUPID AS TO BELIEVE THAT EVERY KNIFE CARRIER IS CARRYING THE ITEM IN ORDER TO FIND SOMEBODY TO ASSAULT, WITHOUT A REASON?

I actually believe some kids when they say that they carry knives purely as a self-defence measure against kids already known, by them, to be carrying them and who are inclined to use them offensively, instead of defensively.
     As mentioned, above, they've learned the lesson of successful deterrence, already subscribed to, for decades, by our Government in it's retention of nuclear weapons as a means of warning other countries not to dare to consider use of their own, on us!
     To disbelieve kids when they tell us that they're carrying knives for their own self-defence is to be saying that every kid that carries a knife is carrying it in order to attack somebody in an unprovoked manner! The deaths, if that were the case, would be too many to even report in the Media if they were all looking for somebody to attack with their knives.

Some of them are telling the truth and are not the thugs that many would judge them to be!

I know what those kids are talking about!

That's how / why I began carrying knives, well over 30 years ago!

They got me out of attacks!

They never once got me into one - not even once!

Without knives, I would almost certainly be dead, now, and I'd've been killed by an irresponsible user of knives who DIDN'T EVEN CARE WHAT BRITISH LAW SAID about them having that knife with them, that day!

Our Government, when asked about our rights to self-defend, tells us that "the State will protect...". They are almost NEVER there when we are being attacked, and WE (AND OUR ASSAILANTS) ARE! They have miserably failed to protect us, time after time - IT'S UP TO US, NOW!

Given that clear failure, it's time we were allowed to own, and bear, Self Defence Implements!

BUT, IT'S HIGHLY LIKELY THAT KNIVES ARE NOT WHAT WE REQUIRE, IN ORDER TO BE (AND REMAIN) SAFE ON BRITISH STREETS!

We should be allowed (no guns, no blades, no chemical, no gas and no electrics) licensed SDIs...Self Defence Implements!

We should just band together, nationwide, and TAKE BACK our rights to carry Self Defence Implements, instead of waiting to be "allowed" to have them with us.

TheGodSplynter!

__________________
"Salus Populi Suprema Est Lex" -
(The welfare of the people is the ultimate Law!)
Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)