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What About Pointed Sticks?

Jul 7, 2008
By .
Politics & Current Events

Stung by a rash of criminal knifeplay in the streets, the British lion is finally roaring back.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has argued that anyone over 16 caught with an illegal knife should be prosecuted, rather than escaping with a caution.

But [Conservative Party leader] Mr [David] Cameron says the presumption should go further – so anyone convicted of carrying a knife should be jailed.

If Britain would do the sensible thing, and issue concealed carry permits to law-abiding citizens, I suspect that knife-wielding hooligans would soon be put in their place.

But I find this story more interesting for its domestic implications. The behavior of British politicians on what we can now call "knife control" is indirect but powerful evidence that the NRA, pre-Heller, was right all along about the ultimate aim of gun control advocates in the United States.

Make no mistake, many knives are dangerous weapons and stabbing is a horrible crime.  But for the heirs of Churchill and Pitt to reduce themselves to argument over who would punish knife possession most harshly seems positively silly, and at the same time thoroughly medieval.

Last 5 posts by Patrick Non-White

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3 Comments

  1. David  •  Jul 7, 2008 @9:34 am

    …for the heirs of Churchill and Pitt to reduce themselves to argument over who would punish knife possession most harshly seems positively silly, and at the same time thoroughly medieval.

    Were the medievals prudish about cutlery and edged arms?

    Blame the 19th century. It's late Enlightenment types who immanentize the eschaton through madcap arms control schemes.

  2. Patrick  •  Jul 7, 2008 @9:47 am

    Indeed they were David.

    See for instance, Northampton, 2 Edward III, c.3.

  3. David  •  Jul 7, 2008 @12:30 pm

    But that was a shameful peace….