22 May 2013

John Wilson Street, Woolwich, UK

This is where it is (marked by the "A" pin):



And this is the picture from the place:



Details.

Condolences to the family of the soldier.

Posted by SnoopyTheGoon at 22.5.13

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20 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Bad business Snoop, bad business.

1:29 AM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Strangest part of this tale was the bystanders just standing around. How long have the good guys been disarmed in Britain?

7:32 AM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Frankly, even after all that has already happened in London in recent years, it is hard to get my head around a thing like this.

10:20 AM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

The do have armed police officers nowadays. But the citizenry is chiefly unarmed. That is, aside of the criminals, of course.

10:21 AM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

An unarmed cub-scout leader challenges one of the attackers, knife still in hand, and in response to his pathetic self-justification says...

"It is only you versus many people. You are going to lose."

There were others who acted similarly, with some refusing the attackers' instruction to stay away from the body of the Lee Rigby. These bystanding locals stood vigil by the dead soldier, while his murderers continued to present a real and present danger.

Should all of us "good guys" go about our daily lives packing sidearms?

8:44 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

If you are asking me, Francis - I don't have an answer to that myself. My stance on personal weaponry is uncertain, after spending too much time with arms in the military. And of course, you must know what a real Texan will answer, so...


And yes, there were unbelievable displays of courage, even somewhat bordering with stupidity in this case.

9:50 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Be a great idea if some of the good guys were allowed to carry. But your own government seems to have ruled that out. They're rather more interested in making London Somalia's 12th largest city:

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/05/afghanistan-comes-to-london.html

10:12 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

But of course. When weapons are illegal, only criminals will have weapons.

10:16 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Mrs. Charm keeps talking about visiting London. I keep asking her not to.

10:51 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Dick - Like Snoopy I don't pretend to offer any answers, and you may be surprised to hear that my personal views on firearms and the state's claim to a monopoly on organised violence are libertarian, albeit of the left variety.

That said, the state's de jure monopoly has existed for so long in Europe that it would take a monumental cultural shift to change the situation.

In sparsely populated European countries such as Finland there is a greater acceptance of guns in the hands on civilian good guys, but it would be a challenge to translate Finnish culture into, say, a British, French or German context.

Good luck on preserving your constitutional second amendment. Just don't be complacent, and think that the centre and rational right will continue forever to hold to a (classically) liberal view of gun ownership.

As I said, I don't hold any answers. Instead I'm just trying to be realistic.

10:57 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

I like realism myself, that's why I'm armed, like most Texans, though I don't have a carry license. Plenty of Texans do, however. And we're not waiting for the center or right to keep it legal. I doubt many of us would cooperate with a confiscation law of any kind from any entity. Fortunately we don't have enough police to enforce one, anyhow.

11:13 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

I understand where you're coming from, and am largely sympathetic to your position. But it's a position that has a distinctly American cultural foundation, and that makes half a world of difference.

In western Europe we live in densely populated communities, and across the economic spectrum lead lives of blameless domesticity, bourgeois or otherwise. Our societies are relatively peaceful, with acts of life-threatening violence a rarity. We also have a tendency to do what we're told and put our trust in the state. Foolish, I know, but that is our reality.

I have no experience with military weapons, but I have hunted, and know how to handle high-calibre rifles. Personally, though, I don't want to carry a weapon. I just don't, or at least not as a matter of course.

I do not wish to live my life in constant anticipation of violence. Living in Britain that is a permissible indulgence given the relatively low level of violent conflict in our society.

11:35 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Depends on where you live in Britain, from I read. Any place, like Woolwich, with a high Muslim population would not be so peaceful, I expect.


My Fort Worth mother-in-law recently started the required course to carry a small semiauto in her handbag. She does fear violence. I don't at all, I just prefer to be prepared. It's the old boy scout training I suppose.

11:43 PM, May 23, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

I have more fear of drunken white trash at chucking out time than I do of local Muslims. Woolwich is a diverse community, and the violence is largely low level loutishness.


Observant Muslims tend like Christians to be conservative in their behaviour. Feral youth are another matter, and with them there is no ethnic or religious distinction.

6:35 AM, May 24, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Turns out, from what I read, the law-abiding citizenry are not the only ones unarmed. So are some of the coppers, who were there when the murder went down but had to stand around and wait for their armed brethren to show up. You can't make this stuff up.

10:32 AM, May 25, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Historically almost all of the coppers, except Special Branch, were unarmed. Lately this changed.

But consider the British traditionally low crime rate. I dunno whether it's still true today, but an unarmed bobby on the corner usually sufficed for most situations.

10:38 AM, May 25, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Yep, that is why we have to have private ownership of assault rifles with 30 round clips like Adam Lanza's mother had!

2:21 AM, May 27, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

Weirdest terror attack on record. These two terrorists brutally hacked a soldier to death and then stand around 20 minutes or better waiting for the cops to arrive ( where were they on a donut break?) and explaining to passer-bys in the meantime.

2:23 AM, May 27, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

(continuing from previous post), why they did so and being recorded on a camera phone. They do not try to kill anyone else as terrorists usually do or to flee the scene as the terrorist in France did the other day after stabbing a soldier in the neck.
These two definitely wanted their 15 minutes of fame. The only thing they lacked were copies of a printed mainifesto to hand to passer-bys and the media!


Yes, Dick, London is an extremely unsafe place to visit unlike here in the US where the terrorists would not have been armed with swords and an old pistol, but would have legally purchased assault rifles with 30 round clips!

3:01 AM, May 27, 2013
SnoopyTheGoon said...

I did have a passing thought about drugs being involved, but it was eventually proven to be wrong.

10:29 AM, May 27, 2013

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