[Kie99]

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4459086

That makes me sick

From the Scotsman
Six Months for Brandishing Toy Gun

By PA Reporter


A father who waved his child’s toy gun at two youths has been jailed for six months, it emerged today.

Richard Bottley claimed he brandished his six-year-old son’s toy at the boys, aged 14 and 15, because they had been harassing him.

The 37-year-old of Buttercup Square, Oxford, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The defendant was jailed for six months at Oxford Crown Court on Friday.

[aldo_14]

That's a bit disproportionate.  Unless there's a statutory minimum sentence, it's completely daft; mind you, so was charging him in the first place.

[Andreas]

Welcome to the 21st century...

[Flipside]

Now, if it was the kids who had the gun, it would have been 3 months suspended indefinately (i.e. No punishment)

[01010]

Might as well use a real gun.

[BlackDove]

And shoot them for real.

[Flipside]

Exactly the stage things are getting to, the longer the law ****s on people trying to defend themselves from Yobs whom the Police are powerless to deal with, the more often this is going to happen, with real guns.

[Fineus]

That's... sad.

[Mongoose]

Wait..."possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear" is a six-month-sentence crime over there?  Remind me never to visit the UK.  That's just messed up.

[Flipside]

It's worse than that Mongoose, because these guns are being pointed at people who will happily flaunt their own guns and knives because they know they will not be touched. The Police are told about them time and time again but do not do a thing about it, they vandalise cars, harass people and generally make life unpleasant for as many people as they possibly can, but the moment someone actually stands up to them, a job the Police should be doing, only then do the Police leap gleefully into action, against someone who is just defending their own right to live a fear-free life.

[WMCoolmon]

What the ****?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Mongoose
Wait..."possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear" is a six-month-sentence crime over there?  Remind me never to visit the UK.  That's just messed up.

Actually, the purpose of the law (never mind its stupid application in this case) is to prevent people being mugged, threatened or (in shops) robbed by people using replica weapons.  Bear in mind that 'real gun' crime is a lot less common here because of gun control laws, so use of replicas for these sorts of purposes is far more likely than in, for example, the US.

So I don't think it's a daft law or punishment in principle, it just shouldn't have been applied in this case unless, of course, there was some extreme exceptional circumstance in this guys behaviour which isn't conveyed in the text.

[Flipside]

Problem is, modern law was created to supposedly ignore race, colour, creed, age, social background, family etc etc. But it fails abysmally to do that, hence the famous 'Most crimes are commited by Blacks' comment by the ex-head of MetPol.

Political Correctness once again comes around to bite the British on their arse. Since, now the Police are more inclined to 'Talk about it' than 'Deal with it'. Personally, I think step one is to land...hard.... on gangs that are breaking the law, I cannot believe they are ignorant that their actions are illegal, and it doesn't matter what bloody colour they are, if they are terrorising people, then nick 'em.

The reason the problem with gangs is growing is simple. It's because no-one is stopping them, and when anyone tries, the Police arrest them for it.

[DeepSpace9er]

Flip sounds like you are saying that the police are profiling people to jump on rather than deal with the apparent crime? Correct me if i misinterpreted but the police are just begging for it.

[Flipside]

That is more or less the case. The image being given is that the Police are far more eager to jump on a 30 year old teacher who is simply trying to protect their home and family, and won't resist arrest, because they actually respect the law, rather than have to deal with people who might fight back.

Quite frankly, our Government is so obsessed with Terror from 5000 miles away, that they now totally ignore Terror from the other end of the street.