Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- A British judge is proposing that all knives in the country have the points filed off. You do not really need pointy knives, he says, and they are causing all the knife crime.
The parallels to the push to ban guns in the UK are unmistakable. From telegraph.co.uk:
A judge has proposed a nationwide programme to file down the points of kitchen knives as a solution to the country’s soaring knife crime epidemic.
Last week in his valedictory address, retiring Luton Crown Court Judge Nic Madge spoke of his concern that carrying a knife had become routine in some circles and called on the Government to ban the sale of large pointed kitchen knives.
Latest figures show stabbing deaths among teenagers and young adults have reached the highest level for eight years, and knife crime overall rose 22 per cent in 2017.
In the past two months, he said, there have been 77 knife-related incidents in Bedfordshire, including three killings.
Does he really believe these young warriors, defending their honor and their turf, as they see it, will be deterred from having effective weapons because they may need to file a point back on a knife?
Does he completely miss the availability of steel, hard plastic, files, belt sanders, brass, bronze, copper, aluminum, or even flint and glass?
According to the theory pushed to ban guns, it was the guns that caused crime. It is hard to believe that anyone in the British Government at the time (early 1920’s on through the 1980’s) actually believed that to be true. Some might have. People are exceptionally good at rationalizing their decisions.
Research done by Joyce Lee Malcomb in the United States and Chief Inspector Colin Greenwood have shown that it was fear of revolt (an armed population) that drove the legislation, not the extraordinary low crime rate at the time. But the crime rate rose as social cohesion was discredited, Christianity mocked, and the rise of “diversity” trumped British pride in their achievements and history.
This is what happens when you push the notion that crime is caused by inanimate objects, when you buy into the gibberish that there is no human nature. Science and Christianity both understand that there is a human nature. It is violent, selfish, and needs to be tamed. Science would call it our predatory ancestry. Christianity calls it original sin.
The default position for humanity is the tribe. The tribe views all outsiders as enemies or resources or both. The tribe values its warriors because the warriors protect the tribe and define it.
It takes a lot of effort to turn the warrior drive into a positive value for a greater society. It has to be done every generation. Each child is a wild animal that must be tamed.
Attempting to stop crime by eliminating weapons is insane. Crime is reduced to a minimal level when societies respect their warriors, give then purpose and meaning, and shared responsibility to protect the nation, which can include the weak, the infirm, and the old.
Not doing this is a self-correcting backwater. Societies that do not honor their warriors become prey to those who do. Western society did not become the predominant force in the world by denigrating warriors, but by using them to spread and enforce civilized values.
Weapons and conflict are as much a part of mankind’s genetic makeup as are speech and thought.
It appears England is at the second stage. Guns have been banned or heavily regulated. Crime is up. Knives are being demonized, and the strongest young toughs rule the streets.
Before 1920, Englishmen respected property rights and individual rights. Those rights were supported by the theory of natural law and Christianity.
Anyone could purchase a gun privately, without registration or regulation. Englishmen had the right to arms. The crime rate was a fraction of what it is today.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.