Defenseless In Britain

[Todd]

Meet Ruby Barber of Northampton, England. She's 93 years old. She says she's been robbed three times. Her neighbors have been robbed, too.

So, two years ago, Mrs. Barber had her son Burt put up about $600 worth of barbed wire around her property. No one has managed to rob her since the barbed wire went up.

Local officials don't like the barbed wire. They have ordered the Barbers to take it down. Why? Because they think the barbed wire could injure someone who tries to climb over it.

Does this make sense to you? Here's a novel idea for the Northampton government...maybe the reason Ruby Barber hasn't fallen victim to robbers in the last two years is because the threat of getting stuck by barbed wire forces robbers to look for easier targets! Maybe her safety is a little more important than that of some punk who steals from others for a living!

Burt Barber, naturally, isn't happy with the decision. He says that taking the barbed wire down amounts to "giving a health and safety charter to burglars to allow them to get in without a problem."

This is a government that is more concerned about preventing injuries to burglars than letting homeowners defend their property. It's a government that has disarmed its people, watched its crime rate skyrocket, and then told citizens they can't defend themselves.

It's the kind of country the U.S. could become if the Imperial Federal Government disarms us.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1479000/1479852.stm

 

[Gabby McWeevils]

Here's a little thing for you to consider Todd. Remember the country that you live in? It's called Canada. No second amendment, Gun registration and, oh yes, lower crime than almost any nation in the world. In Toronto, the most dangerous city in Canada, we just had our 32nd murder. Pretty good compared to any major city in the US, eh?

 

[Closet Desire]

Just a few helpful tidbits Todd...

Yes, it sometimes seems absurd that in the UK you can be prosecuted for defending yourself, much less your property.

On the other hand, there isn't a single state in the US that will allow you to harm another person to defend "property". The only time you can legitimately use force in the US is to defend yourself or those with you at the time.

Crime skyrocketing in the UK? Hadn't noticed as many forms of crime are actually going down where I live.

I'm not justifying the UK approach but violence does often beget violence. The 93 year old woman wasn't shot or knifed...was she?

 

[Myrrdin]

An English mans home is his castle.

But we are only allowed to take reasonable steps to defend it.
Barbed wire is not expensive. $600 will buy an absurd ammount of barbed wire for a garden, even allowing for some of the barbed wire pictured , actually being razor wire. If you neighbours festooned their garden with hoops of barbed wire making it look like the front line of the Somme, I'm sure you may have complained to your council.

The report doesnt mention whether any money had been invested on basic security methods like security locks, burglar alarms, security lighting etc before the place was decorated up like one of Her Majesty's penal establishments

 

[tmuyo]

Re: Just a few helpful tidbits Todd...

Yes, it sometimes seems absurd that in the UK you can be prosecuted for defending yourself, much less your property.

On the other hand, there isn't a single state in the US that will allow you to harm another person to defend "property". The only time you can legitimately use force in the US is to defend yourself or those with you at the time.

Crime skyrocketing in the UK? Hadn't noticed as many forms of crime are actually going down where I live.

I'm not justifying the UK approach but violence does often beget violence. The 93 year old woman wasn't shot or knifed...was she?

we've gotten that shit in the states too...

burglars that have been startled being caught by the owners. falling out of the windows they snuck in through and dropping the tv onthemselves. then suing the owner. and winning. no shit i read a case about this in high school...i laughed myself stupid and am unsure if i ever recovered...

 

[SpectreT]

Personal opinion time.

Anyone who, in the act of committing a crime, (even trespassing) has, by committing that crime, (or undertaking to) has given up their right to sue for bodily injury, wrongful death, overheated McDonald's Pickle, overheated McDonald's Coffee, or whatever other silly shit might befall them.

I am sick to death of idiots and criminals being protected from, and rewarded for, their actions, mishaps, and blunders.

Anyone else remember a time when the thought was, "What was that moron doing with a hair dryer in the bathtub?" Now the thought is, "That's terrible! There should be warnings about not using electricity while you're wet!" and "His family deserves money from the manufacturer of the hair dryer for his tragic mishap!"

I think I'm gonna puke.