SHTF in the UK… people are forced to protect themselves with the equivalent of a stick:
Sales of baseball bats and batons have shot up more than 5,000 percent in the last 24 hours on Amazon’s British website, as London suffered its worst violent unrest in decades.
Full story – HERE
The competing arguments used to explain why the riots are happening – HERE
If I ever lived in a place lame enough to not allow guns, i’d probably use my Cold Steel Brooklyn Smasher bat.
Some Eye candy:
Those riots make the fairly recent hockey riots in Vancouver Canada look weak. Your move Canada…
Question: Do fans in the UK have blades? Or is there some sort of safe UK fan that uses not sharp paddles to move the air instead? Do they all use those Dyson fans with internal blades? :P
Hat tip: Chris
Comments
19 responses to “SHTF In The UK – Bat And Baton Sales Soar”
Why isn’t Bush on the blame list? Kidding.
Well, I still think it’s an important suggestion to make so I will make it. Perhaps armed police officers shouldn’t have shot and killed a citizen who cannot own a firearm?
well people do carry guns and that man had a gun and even if it was a replica the police dont no that so it was them or him and it was him also that only started the peacefull protests not the riots and looting that was just an exuse
I’m pretty sure that burning the neighborhood down and trashing other civilians shops isn’t the best course of action.
Circular saw blade + closet rod = bad axe. I’d be building improvised weapons non-stop.
Needs moar duct tape. *Combo card acquired*
And i say we arm the people with shotguns that have rock-salt loads. That ought to disperse those looting assholes.
Hmm, much as I love guns and own quite a few, I do seriously value the concept of having less people armed on the streets. Gun crime here in the uk is very very minimal, aside from an odd exception, those rioters were not armed with firearms, as they would have been if they were more widespread in our society.
We also value the idea that our general police are not armed, if they toolded up, everyone else would have to.
Don’t get me wrong, we can get a van full of heavily armed and distinctly serious men to any location in a city within ten minutes, they literally spend all day circling ring roads in vans full of G36’s.
We’ve got a radically different culture here, two nations divided by a common language. the difference in the gun laws make sense for our radically different situations, in the usa, police are often much further away from being able to respond and having armed citizens is more important.
A sub 10 minute inner city response, low urban gun crime and practically zero rural gun crime. Thats enough guns on the streets for us :)
It’s not just about police being away. Police potentially could be too close, like the British in late 1700s or 1812.
Home burglaries have raised 14 percent in the UK according to headlines. How safe is that? No one has a right to break into your house and threaten your life. I don’t know if someone breaking into my house is ONLY trying to steal my stuff. If I’m home and they’re breaking in I’m going to assume they’re willing to hurt me, rape women and children, and possible kill us after doing that (no witnesses). If I’m not safe in my home, then I’m not safe.
I, as a human, have a moral right and obligation to protect myself from bodily harm (in defense) and the protection of others who cannot defend themselves, like children and pacifists.
I think Frank pretty much said it. Kudos to Frank.
14% since last year – which was the lowest on record. You need to look beyond the tabloid headlines.
Even so, I stand by how I feel in regards to self-defense.
Disarm people, and bad things happen (just ask 6 million Jews). However, I believe you are more than welcomed to trust the government and I will not make you believe what I believe, but I reserve the right to choose my own views if I feel the need.
To me trusting the government is like trusting a cannibal with fellatio, you either give “completed trust” (to the cannibal) or your trust is quid pro quo with extreme discretion. If someone threatens you, intimidates you with violent words or otherwise, and refuses or does not correct (apologize, contrition, etc) their behavior, it is clearly natural to be afraid and legitimately concerned for your own safety and that of others.
Yet here in the USA, if I recall correctly, the supreme court ruled that police are not responsible for our own personal safety. So who is then? And what are our options? Chuck Norris ain’t one of them. Are we left to do nothing? What if we’re 84 years old minding our own business? Not everyone is a body builder. Some people are small petite women. What then?
Jon, either you believe self-defense is a natural right, or you don’t. Of course I don’t mean offensively nor preemptively, although I – yes I – believe the only exception is catching someone in the immediate act and one has an opportunity to stop the offender. For example, a burglar enter’s your 7 year old daughter’s room at 3 in the morning, and yet somehow that same burglar doesn’t see you with your .45 ACP handgun with night-sights.
Sources: Exodus 22:2 (NKJV)/
Sources: 84 year old Jewish lady gets the beat down at a train platform IN broad daylight, AND NO one helps her. http://www.kgw.com/news/local/Police-19-year-old-beats-up-84-year-old-126378713.html
Like most people, I just want to be left in relative peace in my own home, listening to music, having a beer (actually multiple beers, I believe in reloading), and to enjoy warm weather.
I will try to look beyond the headlines, but I assure you, even here in the USA and in the rest of the world: crime of any sort, is not going to just magically disappear, even if Chuck Norris is still alive. I also don’t expect you or anyone to have all the answers, especially for me and my questions. :D But I can say that some my answers work for me, and I know there are also like-minded people who believe an affirmation of personal responsibility of is a affirmation of free-will.
I hope you stay safe (and if possible, along with your own desire for such, loaded as well).
Good to hear from a reader across the pond!
I forgot which country it was but they deputized cobras (yes the venomous snake) to deploy for riot control. This tactic has had great success from what I understand to disperse would-be mobs.
As clawless, fangless humans, tools are our advantage by nature.
Make-shift blunt weapons conjure images of black eyes and bruises, where as a firearm on the other-hand, shows you mean business right away. “Chance of death,” is a great deterrent few would want to oppose.
I think if the rioters had guns, it would all be over much sooner. Instead of trying to control and arrest, the UK would simply shoot the citizens.
No judgement on good or bad (at what point should the government stand down to armed rebellion? 10 rebels? 100? 1000?…)
And that is only considering the “bad” people having guns (I think everyone that has followed the law up to the point of purchase should be able to buy a gun). It would be safer if the “good” people had guns for self defense (or shop defense, but protecting your property is usually frowned upon)
Not a great idea to get a blade …. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/CrimeJusticeAndTheLaw/Typesofcrime/DG_181675
And read the guidance here
http://www.basc.org.uk/en/departments/firearms/knives-advice-and-guidance.cfm
including the PDF “Carrying Knives”
http://www.basc.org.uk/en/utilities/document-summary.cfm/docid/F7CE90DC-2C86-44C5-97ED46C927D34652
Note that “Leaving a knife in the car, or in your pocket for when you next go shooting, or forgetting that it is there, is NOT a defence.” … Talk about a restrictive legal regime….
“the maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife is four years in prison and a fine of £5000”
F*dat
With laws as insane as they are in England, the people SHOULD be as mad as they appear to be; they just need to channel it into productive ends.
Personally, I’d take the legal risk and carry any weapon I could. I refuse to abdicate my responsibility for my own life. Period. An unjust law is no law at all.
I was watching a live streaming clip of the house of commons discussing the expensive it will take to hire more police to protect the streets in case something like this happens again. I saw video clips of 4 police offers trying to defend a street against 50+ people and the cops were getting their asses handed to them.
My bet is forget hiring the extra cops and just arm more of them with shotguns loaded with rubber bullets. I bet it would only take two armed cops to control a large intersection against hundreds of rioters. Shoot a few of the bold rioters and I bet the rest will act right.