getting any worse!

 

 

The rest of the high street may be hurtling headfirst into recession but for Britain’s purveyors of knives business is thriving.

 

Yes, another week and another teenager knifed to death. This week there was even a two-for-one deal with two senseless killings in the space of just six days.

 

If that sounds glib then forgive me but we as a nation are in danger of becoming immune to the horrors that are being played out on our streets every single day simply because we now see it every single day.

 

Last year saw 931 teens seek hospital treatment for stab wounds. That’s 18 children being stabbed every week. How on earth can we call ourselves a civilised country when we have statistics about the number of child stab victims, for God’s sake?

 

So what is to be done? Well, there will be more marches, more hand-wringing, more calls for unity from “community leaders” and yet ­another knife amnesty. none of that will make a blind bit of difference to how many young boys turn up in the morgue instead of their comprehensive on Monday morning.

 

It’s not the knives that are the problem, it’s the people carrying them. We don’t need to take away the knives, we need to get the young thugs who use them off our streets.

 

These lads are not choirboys who accidentally picked up a knife and plunged it into another human being out of the blue. Invariably we dis­cover that they have a string of convictions and have been in and out of juvenile court since prim­ary school without ever facing any serious consequences to their increasingly violent behaviour.

 

Do we really want to wait until young thugs kill someone before we start locking them up? These lads aren’t misunderstood young victims of society, they’re ticking bombs who could explode at any moment.

A year ago Boris Johnson – now London Mayor – called on people to take the risk and tackle trouble-­making thugs. This week he changed his tune and told teens: “don’t get involved.”

 

He was right then and he’s right now. A year ago I was one of those people who’d step in, who’d get involved and stand up to louts. Now I just walk away.

 

The rules have changed. For a start there are no rules any more. You don’t know who will do what and when. Now you can’t predict who is going to pull a knife or repeatedly implant the soles of their trainers on your face.

 

Britain has become a “walk on by” society but only because we’ve been left with no other choice. I’m not scared of a confrontation. I’m not even scared of being arrested on trumped-up charges – but I am scared of becoming yet another bloody statistic.

 

Source: Sunday Express

 

 

THOUSANDS of knives are freely available on the internet for young thugs who are unable to buy them in shops.

A Sunday Express investigation last night ­discovered 15,793 deadly weapons openly for sale on auction site ebay. Most have the promise of free delivery, making it impossible to check a buyer’s age properly.

 

Nine-inch SAS boot knives compete with British Army daggers at just 99p, along with a special forces “urban defence blade” at £13.99 – well within the price range of today’s teenagers.

 

There are also samurai swords, designed to take off a limb in a single swipe, and even a specially designed knife set for teens which comes packed into a child’s skateboard.

 

Source: Sunday Express

 

Edited July 6, 200817 yr by brian91

I think it's about high time that a mandatory jail sentence of 10 years was given to people carrying concealed weapons - ANY concealed weapon (and that would include your knuckledusters Craig...... :P ), no exceptions, do not pass go, straight to fukkin' jail, because there is NO VALID REASON to carry a concealed weapon on the streets of our cities as far as I'm concerned, claiming "self defence" should not be sufficient, any idiot can say that. And it aint as if the Community Support Officers DONT exactly know who the vast majority of these evil little chav b/astards are that are "tooled up"; and none of them are going off camping or hiking in the woods, or are Boy Scouts taking part in any "survival" courses or are farmers or game wardens, get my drift...? And seeing as how the Police working in these communities have a pretty good idea who these little fukkers are, I'd have no objection to a targeted "stop and search" of these individuals... It aint 'racial profiling', it's getting little chav scum off the streets and in prison where they belong.....

 

 

As for the Home Sec's assertion that knife crime isn't getting worse.....

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: LAUGHABLE....... <_<

 

Yeah, okay, there has always been knife crimes, sure. But 15/20/30 years ago it sure as hell wasn't anything like as random or vociferous as it is now... Yeah, you had the Glasgow gangs, the Tongs, the hard-cases like Jimmy Boyle, but these guys would never act in the way these vermin do nowadays, they're poles apart... Not that I defend the likes of Boyle, the man was a thug, but the people he hurt tended to owe him money or else were part of the same criminal underworld he was, so play with fire, etc..... And before the 'slashing' you'd at least get a warning - pay up or face the consequences....

 

On the face of it I guess it does seem like I'm being Pro-Daily Express here, but I'm not.... Our thoughts are merely coinciding on one issue.. As far as I'm concerned the likes of the Express are guilty by virtue of the fact that they supported Thatcher, and it is Thatcherism that created the environment for these verminous Chavs to exist.... Chav is merely a by-product of Thatcher as far as I'm concerned, and those who supported her are guilty in my eyes..... -_-

As for the Home Sec's assertion that knife crime isn't getting worse.....

 

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: LAUGHABLE....... <_<

 

Yeah, okay, there has always been knife crimes, sure. But 15/20/30 years ago it sure as hell wasn't anything like as random or vociferous as it is now... Yeah, you had the Glasgow gangs, the Tongs, the hard-cases like Jimmy Boyle, but these guys would never act in the way these vermin do nowadays, they're poles apart... Not that I defend the likes of Boyle, the man was a thug, but the people he hurt tended to owe him money or else were part of the same criminal underworld he was, so play with fire, etc..... And before the 'slashing' you'd at least get a warning - pay up or face the consequences....

 

On the face of it I guess it does seem like I'm being Pro-Daily Express here, but I'm not.... Our thoughts are merely coinciding on one issue.. As far as I'm concerned the likes of the Express are guilty by virtue of the fact that they supported Thatcher, and it is Thatcherism that created the environment for these verminous Chavs to exist.... Chav is merely a by-product of Thatcher as far as I'm concerned, and those who supported her are guilty in my eyes..... -_-

 

i agree... lol.

hasnt cameron just said hed back a mandatory jail term for those caught carrying knives/weapons?...

hasnt cameron just said hed back a mandatory jail term for those caught carrying knives/weapons?...

 

He has, but it still wouldn't convince me to actually vote Tory.... :lol:

Knife crime claims 60 victims a day

By Ben Leach

Daily Telegraph.co.uk 10:15AM BST 13/07/2008

 

More than 20,000 serious knife crimes were committed last year, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Six people died in knife attacks in a 24-hour period last week

They show that almost 60 people are stabbed or mugged at knife-point every day.

 

A quarter-by-quarter breakdown suggests that the offending has accelerated over the course of the year, fuelling fears that the problem is getting worse.

 

Opposition politicians described the tally as "shocking" and last night demanded action from ministers.

 

Six people died in knife attacks in a 24-hour period last week, leading to an unprecedented statement from Scotland Yard aimed at reassuring the public.

Among the victims was Melvin Bryan, an 18-year-old who became the 42nd teenager killed in Britain this year and the 20th in London.

 

Gordon Brown called Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, to Chequers yesterday, for urgent talks. The Prime Minister urged the Scotland Yard chief to make full use of new police powers to make pubs and clubs search customers for knives and guns.

 

On Tuesday, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will publish her Youth Crime Action Plan. It includes a proposal to make young offenders visit casualty wards to examine knife wounds in an attempt to shock them into mending their ways. Two days later, she will unveil the police figures on knife crime.

 

The Sunday Telegraph has obtained data from 33 of the 43 forces in England and Wales, covering more than four-fifths of the population. The figures show that 20,803 serious knife crimes were recorded in the year to March, or 56 per day.

Allowing for forces that did not provide figures, the nationwide total is expected to be about 25,000. If Scotland and Northern Ireland attacks were included, it would be even higher.

The count includes only murders, stabbings where blood is spilt, and knife-point muggings. If less-serious crimes such as threats or illegal possession were included, the figures would be much higher.

 

Worst-affected were big urban areas – London, Manchester, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Merseyside.

 

Until now, police have counted crimes by the offence – such as assault, robbery or burglary – rather than by the weapon used. Annual totals have included about 100,000 robberies, 20,000 serious woundings and 800 murders. Among the serious knife crimes counted in the new measures, about half are robberies; the other half are murders, attempted murders and woundings.

 

Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “Most people will be shocked to find that knife crime has reached 20,000 cases a year. This illustrates the need to get police back on our streets by cutting the bureaucratic burden on them. There should be a presumption to imprison those caught with knives in excess of three inches in length without reasonable justification.”

 

The figures come as the parents of Jimmy Mizen, the 13th teenager to be killed in London this year, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that they hoped the death of their son would become a catalyst to solve the problem of street violence.

 

Ms Smith’s plan will set out proposals for “knife referral projects” which will attempt to re-educate people convicted of carrying knives via hospital visits and meetings with victims and prison inmates. The £100 million package of measures, to be tried in eight areas, will also include “youth forums” and street-based youth workers to steer young people away from crime, and the extension of a scheme that removes children from the streets late at night. Councils will be urged to close under-age drinking dens and shops selling knives to children.

 

Young offenders handed community sentences will be told to turn up at inconvenient times, including Friday evenings and Saturdays, while parents could be made to attend court if their child is charged with an offence.

 

Ms Smith said: “I am absolutely shocked at the tragic and senseless loss of life we have seen recently. I want to reassure everyone that the Government is taking the issue of knife crime very seriously.”

 

But Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, called the plan a “damp squib”.

 

How can we curb knife crime?

hasnt cameron just said hed back a mandatory jail term for those caught carrying knives/weapons?...

Is he not in the 'say anything to get elected' phase though? :lol:

 

Of course I do agree, there is no real excuse to carry a concealed weapon.

How can we curb knife crime?

 

Well, I suggested locking these Chav fukkers up for 10 years if caught in possession of a concealed weapon..... I mean, sorry, but what earthly reason could one have for carrying a weapon in the streets, other than to hurt someone....?

 

20,000 serious knife crimes in a year....? Honestly, one would almost think we were living in some American Ghetto hellhole..... Different weapon, same sh!t..... <_<