Apparently, the Not-So-Great Britain has banned…katanas.
Barbara Dunne hopes the announcement is vindication for years of campaigning against bladed weapons, and samurai swords in particular…
She believes this is a reward for her efforts. “It’s an achievement to get the weapons banned. I don’t want children to keep seeing them in shop windows and thinking it’s normal.”
Go to hell, lady. Like LawDog, I don’t understand why people want us to think that a hunk of metal is somehow abnormal. Now, the next part of this is something that I want everyone who has ever thought “they won’t come after my hunting rifles” to pay attention to.
Fay Goodman is also hoping there will be leniency towards sport.
“I am concerned. It depends on the small print. Martial artists using swords begin with a wooden one, progress to a blunt weapon and finally start using a razor-sharp blade.
These weapons could be banned if the government goes too far.
People need some protection but criminals could use anything. The biggest amount of knife crime is actually domestic violence. Guns were licensed but shootings have only increased.”
You know what they’re banning? The ban targets the “Saturday Night Special” of the sword collecting market. The government says that it’s not going to ban “authorized swords”, but doesn’t really set out a definition of what an “authorized sword” is vs. an “imitation sword”. Like I said – hunters, Cowboy Action Shooters, and anyone else who thinks that their niche of the shooting community is safe should stand up and take note of this. I guarantee that once this initiative does NOTHING to reduce crime, the goverment is going to come after all the other samurai swords. To quote LawDog:
Yeah. Any student of history want to give me an average length of time it takes the average government to go from, “Oh, we’re just going to take these, not those” to “We’re taking those. Now.”
He’s absolutely correct. It’s impossible to look at this situation in England and not draw correlations to our sport shooting culture here in the States. What they’ve done over there is effectively told martial arts enthusiasts that unless they can afford a $5,000 sword, they can’t practice their art. It’s a de facto ban on all swords essentially because the average enthusiast isn’t going to want to pony up five grand. It’s the kind of tactic that Helmke & Co. would love to see copied over here in the US.
I want to point one quote from a Home Office Minister. I’m going to post the quote unedited, then I’ll make two little snips to show you exactly what’s going to happen here:
“We recognize it is the cheap, easily available samurai swords which are being used in crime and not the genuine more expensive samurai swords which are of interest to collectors and martial arts enthusiasts.”
changed to:
“We recognize it is the cheap, easily available handguns which are being used in crime and not the expensive hunting rifles which are of interest to collectors and hunters.”
There was another article some time back about how chefs don’t need “long pointy knives” and they should be banned to reduce crime (in Scotland, I believe).
had this discussion last night, guy i was talking to was saying that he didnt care if they tried to ban AR and AK style weapons here in the US… he didnt own one and didnt want one so it didnt effect him… but he said that he wouldnt stand for them ever trying to ban handguns… i guess the thought of one step at a time doesnt follow for a lot of people…
The UK has ceased existing as a country ever since Thatcher left office, the people have ceased existing as citizens ever since Churchill left office.
Again, just like Austrialia,Canada,and the long time example England, if it can happen there it can also happen here. Join some sort of pro-gun activist group and let your voice be heard, before it’s too late.
I agree with Michael. Ahab has said before that the NRA does some things that he doesn’t agree with and I also have had my disagreements about some things. But right now they are the 800 lb gorilla. If you don’t like them, join another outspoken gun advocacy group such as Gun Owner of America (GOA), Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), Sisters of the Second Amendment Foundation (SSAF), Jews for the Preservation of Gun Ownership (JPFO), and there are several others because “they” will try to take our guns in steps and we all need to stand together. You cannot break a handful of twigs at the same time, but you can break each twig individually until they all are broken.
I don’t want children to keep seeing them in shop windows and thinking it’s normal.
Great Caesar’s ghost! It IS normal!!
Thanks for linking this article; I tried to post it in the comments of what I thought was a relevant thread over on PGP and it got deleted. Glad YOU see the connection.
The UK situation is largely hopeless, but Canada is not. Some Canadians, especially western Canadians and some Quebecois, have taken a long hard look at what’s gone on in the UK and don’t like it at all.
There’s at least some organized resistance in Canada…the National Firearms Association (www.nfa.ca) and http://www.rkba.ca
See also the essays and website of Pierre Lemieux of Quebec: http://www.pierrelemieux.org/
Sorry to nitpick, but the plural of katana is katana… this is because Japanese has no plural form like English does.
That being said, this is of great concern to me, seeing as, while I don’t have the money for handguns, I happen to own three katana, all of a quality that would be covered by this ban. I would love to have a $5000 sword, but I don’t have that kind of money (and if I did I’d spend it on smaller things, one of which would be a handgun.)
Its retarded, and concerning. I wonder how long it will be before England bans pointy sticks and fists.