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2011/02/09 14:02:27
Subject: This is why British police don't carry guns.
I don't know if it's more astounding that someone would try to attack/rob a luxury item store in broad daylight, or if it's more astounding that it took a little old lady to actually do something about it. There were crowds of people watching. Why didn't someone do something? Where were the police?
daedalus wrote:I don't know if it's more astounding that someone would try to attack/rob a luxury item store in broad daylight, or if it's more astounding that it took a little old lady to actually do something about it. There were crowds of people watching. Why didn't someone do something? Where were the police?
Yes, it's strange.
You can see from the other robbery reports that sometimes people just snap and lay into the crims, and everyone joins in.
But on that occasion, I don't know, perhaps people thought it was a TV show being secretly filmed?
Yeah they are making a hero out of her, but lets not encourage it. If your an armed robber worth your salt, youd have smashed her face in instantly, thus retaking the initiative from the crowd.
Did you notice how none of the young men did anything until the old dear got involved and they found their bottle?
Hats off to the old lady, but a small part of me would like to have seen the robbers crush her skull and instantly cowtow the men who sat by and did nowt until they saw an old lady get involved.
I guess pride was the whip there, you cant really do nothing if a 70 year old steams over.
We are arming Syrian rebels who support ISIS, who is fighting Iran, who is fighting Iraq who we also support against ISIS, while fighting Kurds who we support while they are fighting Syrian rebels.
2011/02/09 14:41:50
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
daedalus wrote:I don't know if it's more astounding that someone would try to attack/rob a luxury item store in broad daylight, or if it's more astounding that it took a little old lady to actually do something about it. There were crowds of people watching. Why didn't someone do something? Where were the police?
The windows on shops like that are covered by shutters when they are closed (the ones you see coming down at the end), and their plan looks to be to smash the windows and get the jewellery on display. You can hear a woman calling the police in the video, they don't just wait by jewellery stores waiting for them to get robbed. And the van that comes by is obviously trying to run them over at one point. But apart from that yeh, I guess people feared they had knives/guns whatever. She's got balls.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/02/09 14:45:45
daedalus wrote:I don't know if it's more astounding that someone would try to attack/rob a luxury item store in broad daylight, or if it's more astounding that it took a little old lady to actually do something about it. There were crowds of people watching. Why didn't someone do something? Where were the police?
Sadly, unlike their American counterparts, British coppers don't turn up within 30 seconds. It's a source of national shame.
Seriously though, if our system was as flooded with guns as the US, there would definitely have been fatalities. It's a miracle there wasn't, really.
mattyrm wrote:
Hats off to the old lady, but a small part of me would like to have seen the robbers crush her skull and instantly cowtow the men who sat by and did nowt until they saw an old lady get involved.
I guess pride was the whip there, you cant really do nothing if a 70 year old steams over.
Personally, I doubt I would have intervened if it was just blokes with sledgehammers taking a shop apart, I would have got into it once the elderly lady was in there for fear of her getting injured.
I don't give a toss about shiny rocks and it's certainly not worth me getting turned into mush for, protecting another human being from harm is a different thing though.
Also, there's a lot to be said for 'barmaid's intervention', that is, that if a young guy had tried to stop them, he would have been stomped, whereas the robbers were highly reluctant to attack an elderly lady.
2011/02/09 15:03:11
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
Albatross wrote:Seriously though, if our system was as flooded with guns as the US, there would definitely have been fatalities. It's a miracle there wasn't, really.
I'm not so sure about that. "Violent Crime" and "Homicide" rates have actually dropped over the last 10 years, and I don't think our guns have gone anywhere in that period of time. I live in one of the most 'dangerous' cities in the US and I have no problem walking around at night. Admittedly, if it happened here, there probably would have been wounded from gunfire. Hard to say if they'd be wounded more than by, say, getting hit by that white van.
I can't help but wonder what people in the UK honestly think the US and our crazy gun-toting ways get us. I'm picturing you must think it something akin to the Mad Max movies.
I'm sorry, but that is just a really stupid thing to do.
Yes, we all want to see thieves arrested. But, don't go risking your life over it.
They weren't attacking a person, so she was just risking her life over someone's property. And, I'm sure the store carries insurance, so it wouldn't actually have lost any money.
Now i think about it... I think your right there MGS, if I see a big jewelry store getting robbed, Id probably just think "feth em"
I mean, there are some crimes that we find abhorent, and some we dont. And scruffers nicking off big companies doesnt really revile me as much as burgalry or rape or what have you. I mean, i hate burglars, but would i shop a teenager i saw lifting a CD from HMV? .. probably not.
But if i saw the guys about to smash an old womans head in, then I most defintately would have to butt in, so perhaps we are both right. Pride is a whip for me, it always has been. Its stupid as well, but I cant help it. But at the same time, I think the woman spurred the men into action, possibly because most of us are less concerned about theft than we are about women getting chinned.
Either way, hats off to the old woman as I said.. but it could so easily have turned into a big mess.
We are arming Syrian rebels who support ISIS, who is fighting Iran, who is fighting Iraq who we also support against ISIS, while fighting Kurds who we support while they are fighting Syrian rebels.
2011/02/09 15:39:44
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
daedalus wrote:I don't know if it's more astounding that someone would try to attack/rob a luxury item store in broad daylight, or if it's more astounding that it took a little old lady to actually do something about it. There were crowds of people watching. Why didn't someone do something? Where were the police?
Yes, it's strange.
You can see from the other robbery reports that sometimes people just snap and lay into the crims, and everyone joins in.
But on that occasion, I don't know, perhaps people thought it was a TV show being secretly filmed?
More likely they were just too scared to do anything. Whether or not that's something to be ashamed of is a question for a different day.
The people in the past who convinced themselves to do unspeakable things were no less human than you or I. They made their decisions; the only thing that prevents history from repeating itself is making different ones.
-- Adam Serwer
My blog
2011/02/09 15:44:04
Subject: This is why British police don't carry guns.
mattyrm wrote:
Hats off to the old lady, but a small part of me would like to have seen the robbers crush her skull and instantly cowtow the men who sat by and did nowt until they saw an old lady get involved.
I guess pride was the whip there, you cant really do nothing if a 70 year old steams over.
Personally, I doubt I would have intervened if it was just blokes with sledgehammers taking a shop apart, I would have got into it once the elderly lady was in there for fear of her getting injured.
I don't give a toss about shiny rocks and it's certainly not worth me getting turned into mush for, protecting another human being from harm is a different thing though.
Also, there's a lot to be said for 'barmaid's intervention', that is, that if a young guy had tried to stop them, he would have been stomped, whereas the robbers were highly reluctant to attack an elderly lady.
Seconded. They ain't my jewels getting nicked, I'm not gonna risk my life for them. Another person? I could see that.
2011/02/09 15:51:05
Subject: This is why British police don't carry guns.
This way our dogmatised blinkered police force cannot follow 'procedure' and charge her with assault.
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2011/02/09 15:52:44
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
It's depressing really isn't it though ? British criminals were once admired and feared throughout the entire criminal underworld, and now they're incapable of pulling of a sinmple heist.
In the good old days they would have simply dispatched her with ease, robbed the place, with perhaps a side helping of brain damage inflicted on a shop assistant.
And kicked a dog.
Thanks a lot political correctness !
If there was ever a topic which didn't need the usual Britain Vs. America bs
Indeed. let's give the benefit of the doubt to posters thus far and assume no one was actually trying to start that and we'll all just keep a stiff upper lip and carry on as if nothing's happened, and laugh at the feeble criminals involved instead.
Like people from proper, real countries, with real history and backbone would do
Well, our contempt of this issue in America is greater than that of any British person in Britian!!
That was golden though BTW
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2011/02/09 15:58:08
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
reds8n wrote: It's depressing really isn't it though ? British criminals were once admired and feared throughout the entire criminal underworld, and now they're incapable of pulling of a sinmple heist.
You sent all the good ones to Australia all those years ago so your ciminal gene-pool is a bit in the dumps. Tell you what; we've got overcrowded prisons here, I'll see if we can send some your way.
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2011/02/09 16:02:06
Subject: This is why British police don't carry guns.
After a second look, I don't think she is a 'granny', just someone who looks old and hunched because of the clothes she wore. See how she ran. Don't mind her being an unknown granny though, dump a double helping of shame on thr scum when they get named.
Nice that her interventioned directly resulted in one of the robbers fumbling his escape and being caught.
I do agree with comments that she could afford to intervene wheras a man could not, besides you have to account for mental paralysis, if I were there I would want to intervene, and have done in the past on similarish circumstances, once being the person who initiated a defence, but even so there was a lengthy 'WTF moment' when I do nothing because its not what I expect to see. I doubt I am alone in this.
We need not all be trained soldiers who react instinctively, some of us need to get over suprise first.
Perhaps many civvies are I2
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2011/02/09 16:03:38
Subject: This is why British police don't carry guns.
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2011/02/09 16:03:56
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
reds8n wrote: It's depressing really isn't it though ? British criminals were once admired and feared throughout the entire criminal underworld, and now they're incapable of pulling of a sinmple heist.
You sent all the good ones to Australia all those years ago so your ciminal gene-pool is a bit in the dumps. Tell you what; we've got overcrowded prisons here, I'll see if we can send some your way.
We also have overcrowded prisons and the criminals in prisons are the gak ones anyway, if they were any good they wouldn't be in prison
2011/02/09 16:07:12
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
reds8n wrote: It's depressing really isn't it though ? British criminals were once admired and feared throughout the entire criminal underworld, and now they're incapable of pulling of a sinmple heist.
In the good old days they would have simply dispatched her with ease, robbed the place, with perhaps a side helping of brain damage inflicted on a shop assistant.
And kicked a dog.
Thanks a lot political correctness !
No, thanks to political correctness the 'disadvantaged' criminals are given toothless ASBOs are pampered by dogmatised social workers, the shop is sued by the robbers, supported by a whole lot of legal aid money, because there was no fire exit at a time of emergency and the granny is arrested for assault. The shop assistant loses her job as a result of her 'incompetence' when the lawsuit is settled.
The (robbers) case was to be thrown out by the CPS as unworkable but Whitehall sends a dictat telling the CPS to go ahead anyway because the government is under pressure from the RSPCA because someone kicked a dog. They say nothing in court or even to their briefs and get more ASBOs, the granny however unfortunately admitted hitting the robber, becomes a far easier case to prosecute and gets two months for affray.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/02/09 16:10:53
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2011/02/09 16:33:40
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
2011/02/09 17:30:58
Subject: Re:This is why British police don't carry guns.
