Life in the UK (from the Telegraph via Andrew Sullivan)
A 28-year-old man who shot himself in the testicles with a sawn-off shotgun has been jailed for five years for possessing a prohibited firearm.
David Walker had drunk 15 pints of lager when he accidentally discharged the gun which was stuffed down his trousers, Sheffield Crown Court was told.[...]
Judge Robert Moore said recent legislation regarding banned guns meant he had to impose the statutory minimum sentence on Walker of five years in prison.
Stupidity is the number one sexually transmitted disease. I wonder if our Brit hero shut the spigot off before he transmitted?
Rights have associated responsibilities, to oneself as well as to others. I remember a line from the old Kojac series, used in a somewhat different circumstance: "Dead is dumb and dumb is dead." I suspect that our hero didn't spend much time worrying the responsibility bit.
Posted by: Macho Duck at July 13, 2004 10:02 PMYeah, this tale has a distinct Darwinian vibe to it.
The man was going back to purchase his 16th pint, I don't think "responsibility" is a real leading virtue for him...
Posted by: jk at July 14, 2004 08:14 AMExcellent point Macho but, surprisingly, you didn't address how the nanny statism that attempts to protect Britons from gun violence failed to protect a man's own balls from himself.
It would seem that new gun laws are required to regulate the proximity of hunt clubs to pubs. And perhaps package liquor stores must be prohibited lest the portability of alcoholic beverages negates the prophylactic effect of the unportability of firearms.
This is all moot, of course, since poor mister pellet-balls shot "the birdie" with an illegally possessed firearm. No law can ever eliminate all firearms from an entire nation. Do you suppose this mandatory sentencing will inspire even a single other "illegal" gun owner to dispose of his weapon(s)?
Posted by: johngalt at July 14, 2004 08:40 AMJohn, I've been aware of the futility of gun control for over 50 years. By now the idiocy of it seems O.B.I. (Obvious By Inspection)to me, while the panty wetters think it's O.B.I. (Obscure Beyond Intelligence). Some time around 1960 an inmate at San Quentin Prison was found to have manufactured a single shot 38 Special pistol. If guns can be made within the confines of a prison, how can they be removed from the entire country?
The obvious answer to my rhetorical question is that they cannot. Since nobody could be that stupid (Calling Dagny for our ongoing argument!) there must be a hidden agenda (other than safety). Can anyone imagine what it might be?
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Posted by: Macho Duck at July 15, 2004 12:07 PMI like your inevitability argument Macho. How does it apply to abortion (heck even birth control) and legalization of drugs? While some on the left continue to fight the gun battle some on the right tilt at their own windmills.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at July 21, 2004 01:36 PM