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boglinYet another article about a potential crackdown on the sale of replica guns (mostly airsoft), focusing on how similar the replicas are to the real thing - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4072244.stm - included the paragraphs:
Staring down the barrel of a replica gun, it is easy to understand how terrifying these "toys" can be.
The number of firearms offences involving imitations rose 66% in 2004, while the use of real shotguns, handguns and rifles fell markedly.
Police officers believe that criminals who might previously have used knives in robberies are now choosing replica guns instead, while many youths see them as a status symbol.
Is is just me, or if you were the victim of an armed robery, would you prefer the assailant to be packing a replica weapon rather than a real gun or a knife???
Staring down the barrel of a replica gun, it is easy to understand how terrifying these "toys" can be.
The number of firearms offences involving imitations rose 66% in 2004, while the use of real shotguns, handguns and rifles fell markedly.
Police officers believe that criminals who might previously have used knives in robberies are now choosing replica guns instead, while many youths see them as a status symbol.
Is is just me, or if you were the victim of an armed robery, would you prefer the assailant to be packing a replica weapon rather than a real gun or a knife???
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 04:27 pm (UTC)Since you don't know, until either the trigger is squeezed, or the blade goes between your ribs, whther you have a real or replica weapon, I'd guess the terror level is pretty much the same. Of course later, when you find out that you were mugged by someone with a toy gun, and never in physical danger there is all the shame over the needless pant-wetting.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 05:04 pm (UTC)The justification for this is that mis-used replicas are A Bad Thing, and they're easy to get hold of. In most places, they're easier to get hold of than real firearms (note that this _doesn't_ apply to deacts, which are rarer and more expensive than illegals)
However it's _already_ illegal to wave a replica around in public. We don't need any new law here, we've already got one!
As a furniture maker I'm personally more worried about the table-leg ban, and new licensing for any legs over a certain cabriole.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 05:34 pm (UTC)If you want a gun/replica etc to break into somewhere then you'll get one, if your willing to do the robery then your more than happy to cary a gun etc.
Will they stop Baseball bats, Hockey Sticks etc....anything can be a weapon if your determined anyway !
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 06:36 pm (UTC)I particularly like the "There's no legitimate reason to own one". In that line of thinking there's no legitimate reason to own houseplants, paintings, etc. either. What's that you say, "fun", no not familiar with it.
(cont. on pg 279)
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 06:56 pm (UTC)However Joe Public with limited knowledge of firearms would likely be shitting bricks and if it stops another innocent person being shot then I'm all for it. People seem to forget that SO19 shoot to kill - they are not dicking about. If you don't want to get shot then don't piss about with guns fake or otherwise. And if they say 'drop it' then fucking do so, post haste, even if it is a table leg or a lighter.
Sorry Airsoft guys, you've had a good run, time to take up a decent FPS.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:31 pm (UTC)Interesting, airsofters will also continue to do so, they just won't be able to buy any new guns. Paintballers will be wholly unaffected, I just really don't want to have to take that up. I don't see what affect this legislation will have apart from stopping airsofters.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:43 pm (UTC)In answer to your question, I don't think I'd know the difference between a fake and a real gun until it was fired. Let's face it, if someone's robbing a post office they're not going to think "I'd better make sure I only use a replica gun cos it's not so illegal as a real gun", are they?
no subject
Date: 2005-06-08 07:49 pm (UTC)Absolutely not. If someone's going to break the law, they're going to break the law. It's just that an airsoft gun is easier to get hold of. If they can't get hold of that, they'll get hold of something else. I just don't see the logic in arguing for a ban on *replica* weapons when a criminal will just go ahead and use a real one. And as frightening as a replica gun can look, it can't actually hurt anyone - except for the tosser carrying it when S019 shoot them. The big difference is that if a robbery with a replica weapon goes wrong, nobody is going to get seriously hurt.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-09 10:06 am (UTC)That's quite a contentious issue. If you take it to its full literal conclusion it claims that lawbreakers are just inherently morally degenerate and take literally no account of a law before committing their crime. The basis of this type of legal policy, more and ever more specific laws, is that criminals are calculating types who carefully assess relative risks and punishment before proceeding. If the statement is literally true, then the whole edifice of complex western law collapses and we can implement nothing more detailed than a simple "10 commandments" backed up by revenge.
The truth is obviously somewhere between these. I don't hold with Victorian phrenological concepts of inherent evil because their eyes are in the wrong place, despite strong evidence to support them. However the current government (composed largely of lawyers) seems to see the population of delinquent little hoodies as being equally well-versed in the law and steering carefully away from these finely-crafted legalistic curlicues and laws-on-top-of-laws. That's clearly ridiculous.
no subject
Date: 2005-06-09 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-06-09 08:48 pm (UTC)Maybe if the Police weren't so trigger happy then wouldn't have to shoot first and ask questions later. I mean, there was the case of the guy shot for carrying table leg?!?!