We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:08:32 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification ...to be prey, have just been reinforced. Rise up at the ballot box people - take back your rights. From Manchester Online: Man who killed armed intruder jailed A Salford man who stabbed to death an armed intruder at his home was jailed for eight years. Carl Lindsay, 25, answered a knock at his door in Salford, Greater Manchester, to find four men armed with a gun. When the gang tried to rob him he grabbed a samurai sword and stabbed one of them, 37-year-old Stephen Swindells, four times. Mr Swindells, of Salford, was later found collapsed in an alley... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html Thu, 25 Mar 2004 05:53:07 -0600 the bad(der) guys got 14 years each.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2856 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2856 Sat, 27 Mar 2004 18:49:59 -0600 here, particularly in response to Darth Misha's comment.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2855 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2855 Sat, 27 Mar 2004 18:44:37 -0600 this one... ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2823 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2823 Fri, 26 Mar 2004 12:16:10 -0600 The concession I make to the legal niceties is I won't shoot fleeing felons (but I have no problem with those who do, so I suppose you'd like me on your jury). I will endeavor to ensure that all entrance wounds are in front. The weapon of choice at Castle Argghhhh! is our Winchester Model 97 Trench Gun, a WWI and WWII veteran who still serves proudly, and is very comfortable in the trench-like confines of the house. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2805 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2805 Fri, 26 Mar 2004 05:19:58 -0600 Darth Misha has it in one--the bastard breaking into a person's home chooses to do so. The homeowner has no choice about being the victim of the break-in. The message ought to be really, really simple--"break into someone's home and you will run the risk of being shot, with no legal consequences for the shooter" Anything short of this is just insanity. It amounts to ordering citizens to be victims. There's a lovely little Marlin .357 lever-action carbine next to my bed. Loaded. Anyone breaks in, they get shot and to hell with the legal niceties. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2803 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2803 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 23:34:46 -0600 Frankly, I don't give a shit if the perp was facing him, running away from him or doing an Irish Jig on top of his coffee table. He and his three goblin friends made a decision to break and enter, then proceeded to threaten a man IN HIS OWN HOME with a firearm. As far as I'm concerned, a perp waives all rights as a human being the moment he's on my premises without my express permission. If he doesn't want to be dead, all he has to do is to not break in. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2802 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2802 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 21:30:40 -0600 SheepFreeZone It's interesting. I'm not sure we're getting all the necessary details to make a decision from the papers. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2800 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2800 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 20:45:40 -0600 Well, I thank you for that invitation. Same here--if you ever feel like visiting a really remote area (air access only for 4 months of the year) and being up to your waist in crocodiles, snakes and wild pigs, feel free to drop in. There's always a cold beer and some spare .416 ammo for plinking around here. :o)) cheers. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2797 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2797 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 18:23:11 -0600 And yet, those self-same governments can't explain why, after all those 'safety' laws, no is any safer. Well, no one except criminals. Oh well, after I get the basement rebuilt, it will qualify as a safe, so my swords will meet the letter, if not the intent, of the law. Feel free to come visit if you're in the area, Keith! http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2796 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2796 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:54:25 -0600 It's symptomatic of lefty governments--they take away the right of citizens to run their own lives, disarm them on the pretext that the State will protect them (which it patently cannot) and then use the threat of jail to keep law-abiding people toeing their socialist line. Same in New Zealand and here in Australia. The government of the State of Victoria has just introduced legislation to force owners of swords to keep the weapon locked in a safe, protected by a burglar alarm. meanwhile, Lebanese and Vietnamese gangs are running around with handguns, which they seem to be able to buy at will. It'd be a sick farce if not for the fact that this is reality, 2004 style. A Kerry administration would follow the same course. At least in the U.S. citizens still have recourse to arguing their constitutional rights. We don't. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2794 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2794 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 17:44:04 -0600 "I wonder what they'll do when they've banned everything but rocks?" Ban rocks? BTW, in reference to observations that the dead goblin was stabbed in the back ... four times ... it seems to me that he wasn't moving fast enough on his way out the door. Probably there was a little confusion when all four goblins tried to get through the doorway at the same time. Personally, I've got no problem with where the wounds were administered. As the old joke goes: "I didn't do it, it was an accident, and besides the guy was asking for it." Eight years for slicing up one of a gang that broke into your house with a gun. Humph! They shoulda given him a medal. If he'd had a gun, he might have got all four of them! But don't get me started .... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2788 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2788 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 13:27:03 -0600 Hmmm, that muddies up the water a bit, but just because you're a crook yourself doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to defend yourself. I've seen several cases out of Blighty where samurai swords (I assume the repros) are the 'bad implements'. A ban can't be too long in coming if they play true to form in the Home Office. I wonder what they'll do when they've banned everything but rocks? http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2783 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2783 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 07:22:09 -0600 It is now being reported that the swordsman was a drug dealer. That does not make the action of the bandits any less reprehenible (unless, perhaps, if the dealer was a burn artist). There is in fact something particularly scummy about those who prey on people who cannot report them to the police. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2781 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2004/03/the_rights_of_an_englishman.html#comment-2781 Thu, 25 Mar 2004 06:43:46 -0600