| Scotland Sword Ban Announced |
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| Written by Daniel White | |
| Monday, 14 August 2006 | |
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If we could just ban guns, life would be Utopia, right? That's what the gun grabbers would have you believe. Get rid of the guns and all violent crime will be gone. Tell that to Great Britain. Handguns were banned in 1998 in an effort to reduce violence. Two years later, handgun crime was up 40% as criminals no longer had to fear their victims being armed unless they saw a long gun. Soon, more and more restrictions followed until not only were all handguns banned, but very tight restrictions were in place on all firearms and self-defense in and of itself became a punishable crime. But, it didn't end there. I have a small, hand-painted slate sign I bought at a gift shop that reads, "If they take away our guns, can we use swords?" I thought it was a funny idea. In Scotland, even that is no longer an option. Scottish Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson today announced a new ban on swords "unless sold for legitimate reasons." According to the BBC: Shops selling swords will need a licence, as will businesses dealing with non-domestic knives and other bladed weapons such as machetes. Once again, this is proof that banning weapons only affects those willing to obey the law in the first place. Being an island, Great Britain may have had a easier time reducing the total number of guns; but all they have done is render common subjects defenseless and push violent criminals to other weapons. If they succeed in getting rid of swords, the weapon of choice will again shift. How far behind can baseball bats and golf clubs be? And if the number of defenestrations increase, will windows be banned as well? |