knife control lol

[sgxnk]

this has always been used as an analogy by gun rights advocates.

but now, apparently, the statists across the pond have actually DONE it. yup. not just gun control. now, we have... KNIFE CONTROL

http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1180732006

Earlier this week, swords were banned in Scotland. Seriously. Starting in 2007, sales of swords will be forbidden, licensing and registration of sales of "non-domestic knives" will be mandatory, and shopkeepers will need permission from local councils to sell anything scarier than a chef's knife.

The announcement of the ban follows a five-week amnesty, in which blade owners were encouraged to turn in their weapons voluntarily. Chief Inspector Alex McGuire, from the Safer Scotland co-ordination unit, said he was "deeply disappointed" to learn that more than 400 knives had been seized by police sweeping Scottish streets in the weeks following the amnesty:

"Although it shows that police are proactively searching for knife carriers, it clearly shows that there are individuals still out there who continue to think it's acceptable to carry a weapon in 21st Century Scotland."
To add insult to injury, police and politicos are encouraging shopkeepers to stop selling weapons now, and calling for the public to boycott shops that increase sales in the months leading up to the ban.

[eallen]

1. They can have my machete, when they come control my kudzu.

:hippie:

[MadHound]

2. Yeah, I heard about that the other day on NPR

All I can say is that I'm glad I don't live in Scotland. Sadder yet, in the name of Homeland Security, and Protecting the US From Terrorism, I can see that coming to the US soon.

[sgxnk]

5. only if ray nagin was in charge

although bush has been sucky on gun rights. at least from a repub you'd expect stronger support of gun rights, but his statist leanings overwhelm his conservative leanings by a big margin

[eallen]

7. Bingo.

[sgxnk]

8. cheers nt

[Kagemusha]

3. Not.. that people haven't been killed with these things.

But do we really need them switching to Ginzu Knives or something. Like that's better.

[Vincardog]

4. WTF am I supposed to chop brush with now? Does this mean that

AwOl Will have to quit his brush clearing expeditions?

[sweetheart]

6. a razor sharp chef's knife

I can purchase a razor sharp chef's knife for 1 pound, a very serious
weapon indeed, a virtual short sword in every household kitchen department,
and woe to the cricket bat, the iron bar and the sledge hammer, oh dear,
what is next... soon, i'll need a license to carry a rock.

[Solo_in_MD]

9. What about dirks? Often worn with a kilt for formal affairs

[sgxnk]

10. rubber dirks? no metal . blunt dirks? nt

[Solo_in_MD]

11. They can have my dirk when they pry it from my cold dead fingers

seriously, I assume they are going after real weapons, not wall hangers or ceremonial ones. Even so my dirk and sigan dubh are real and sharp.

[sweetheart]

12. kilts, a debunking

Frankly, before living in the scottish highlands, i never would have known, but the
kilt thing is really export-only. The most respected highlanders i've met over years in
these highlands, don't wear a kilt, and if they must wear one, it is for a marching band
like a costume, not a symbol of the family.

Really, the kilt is made of wool, and is a symbol of the sheep. The sheep was introduced
by the english conquorors in to the highlands and the broken peoples had to farm the rich
landlord's sheep. So now, hundreds years later, the sheep are still worshipped, and a kilt
is still just a symbol.

If its bad for a sheep, its bad for scotland, if it chases sheep it is evil, if it kills
sheep, it must die. Jesus was a lamb remember.

.. or so the myth is mistold.

and jesus and his flock waged a devastating attack on the ecology of the land by eating
everything like lawnmowers, creating a new land for rich hunters that provide abundant shooting
game for the country gentry.

If you indeed abstract the spirit of the *real* highlander, it is as cool and liquid as any on
DU, outgoing and cosmopolitiain, and for all those who would stuff it up in identity politics
of this family kilt, you're so out of touch with the highlands, you need to visit and have
a pint to realize its more than cloth, man. Being a big dressed kiltman in the formal, all
official in her magesties regalia, is the queens man, a british recruit, but not a highlander,
no, a highlander is like lao tzu, not fit in to a box for mass market golf-disneyland with a
few windmills to make it uglier.

[Solo_in_MD]

13. I find your vision of *real* highlanders amusing...

I too lived have in Scotland, studied at Edinburgh, and a significant part of my family that is still there. Your position has few supporters.

My dirk was originally my great grandfather's. Its been used in close combat in several wars, though I have only worn it socially. I've been to the shop that produced it and they had records of the original sale. If the government wants it, they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

[sweetheart]

14. Myths or peoples

You can buy a bowie knife in arizona, it doesn't make you davey crockett.

There is a large hindwards looking, queen based monarchy in britain, as if the evidence
was not overwhelmingly present, but here on a progressive site, i bring as well the
good news, as you surely encountered when you went and spent your time in farms in
the highlands, that regular working class folks are not so entranced with the myths
as the TV puts across, for all the rich tourists and wealthy aristocrats who can afford
to come study in edinburgh.

Long live the queen, and may every empire crumble in our lifetime.

[Freedom_Aflaim]

15. Swords were banned during William Wallace's day also

Didnt work out to well for anyone..

[Solo_in_MD]

16. Owning effective weaponry is a progressive value regardless of the era

[sgxnk]

17. correct

it should be universal for progressives, libs, cons, libertarians, etc.