British Soldier Killed In Londonistan

[DLR Bridge]

Please forgive my being curt. An armed beat cop within ear shot of the screeching tires that led to the crash could have altered the outcome.

[vandeleur]

We have some bat shit EDL protest in the Toon tomorrow ...I hate that shit.

[vandeleur]

Please forgive my being curt. An armed beat cop within ear shot of the screeching tires that led to the crash could have altered the outcome.

Think its all if's and but's now. think it was all over pretty quickly from the reports and the guys who did it even passerbys who were close thought they were trying ot resuscitate the guy after an accident.

[ashstralia]

We have some bat shit EDL protest in the Toon tomorrow ...I hate that shit.

yes mate the tit for tat business does neither side any favours...
the cronulla riots here being a good case in point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Cronulla_riots

[binnie]

Please forgive my being curt. An armed beat cop within ear shot of the screeching tires that led to the crash could have altered the outcome.

As Vandeleur said, this isn't the right thread to debate this. But the fact is that the British public do not want their police to be armed (outside of armed response units); and the police do not want it, either. This is a nation which is very uncomfortable with the idea of handing officers of the state powers to effectively execute people on the spot, and in an country where guns are rare (I myself have never seen a gun outside of a museum and I imagine that almost everyone I know would have the same experience) it is largely uneccesary - yes, criminal elements have guns, but they are still few and far between (although not as rare as might be hoped).

This is one area where the UK and US cultures are hugely different. Not saying one is right and the other is wrong, just explaining the difference.

(You could also argue the case the other way: if the police were armed on a rountine basis, these guys would have turned up heavily armed and prepared to shoot).

[vandeleur]

As Vandeleur said, this isn't the right thread to debate this. But the fact is that the British public do not want their police to be armed (outside of armed response units); and the police do not want it, either. This is a nation which is very uncomfortable with the idea of handing officers of the state powers to effectively execute people on the spot, and in an country where guns are rare (I myself have never seen a gun outside of a museum and I imagine that almost everyone I know would have the same experience) it is largely uneccesary - yes, criminal elements have guns, but they are still few and far between (although not as rare as might be hoped).

This is one area where the UK and US cultures are hugely different. Not saying one is right and the other is wrong, just explaining the difference.

(You could also argue the case the other way: if the police were armed on a rountine basis, these guys would have turned up heavily armed and prepared to shoot).

Well put Binnie , you nailed what I was feeling better than I could.

[DLR Bridge]

Again, my apologies for offending. I'm not usually the Monday morning quarterback type, but I guess there is a more cultural divide between U.S. and England than I was aware of.

In these truly shitty times we're living in, I appreciate seeing these guys on the platform of my train station periodically. I'm not bothered by their presence in the least. I know their goal is to ensure I make it home to my family.

[vandeleur]

No offence taken DLR ur cool.

[Nitro Express]

Please forgive my being curt. An armed beat cop within ear shot of the screeching tires that led to the crash could have altered the outcome.

An armed citizen stopped a stabbing in Salt Lake City. You never hear these incidents reported in the national news.

http://fox13now.com/2012/04/26/two-stabbed-in-downtown-slc-parking-lot/

[DLR Bridge]

I'm not pro-armed citizen, but I'm not going down that rabbit hole again.

RIP Lee Rigby

[BITEYOASS]

If anyone else is to be blamed, it would be that dipshit by the name of Anjem Choudary.

[sadaist]

I get equally tired of people dropping into lazy thinking in response to such acts - and by lazing thinking I mean tarring every 'type' of person with the same brush or, worse still, falling into racism.

After events like this we naturally want explanations, but it is too easy to say 'it's because they're Muslim'. Why wasn't Brevik explained with 'it's because he's white'? Simply put, it is because it wouldn't work - he was untypical of white people, even those on the right-wing of the political spectrum.

But, yes, this was an horrific act. No arguments there.

You mean like when it was initially blamed on him being right-wing, and then a gamer?

[Seshmeister]

One bible story that always bothered me since childhood was Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his son. Now that is some twisted shit and the God of Abraham is clearly a jealous psychopath. Also the story of Abraham makes it ok to treat women like property and says a caste system is ok. One group is better than the other group. Most of our modern religious problems stem from the teachings of Abraham. When one group believes they are better than the other in the eyes of God well you can justify all sorts of behavior. I never liked the story of Abraham. As a small kid I saw it was a bad concept and as an adult I see nothing but bad fruit comes of it.

The same concept is throughout the teachings of Jesus too. The doctrine is to put the religion BEFORE your family.

It's important because the family unit is/was fundamental to humans. In order to control them effectively you have to wield power that supersedes that. You can bet that the murderers families would have been against their actions.

[Seshmeister]

I myself have never seen a gun outside of a museum and I imagine that almost everyone I know would have the same experience

That's maybe slightly over egging it - most times you go through an airport you will see heavily armed police.

[ELVIS]

You can bet that the murderers families would have been against their actions.

Your critical thinking is like ummm...nonexistent and stuff...

You really need to get off the sauce...

You haven't much brain left...