September 06, 2005
Shut it Blair
The PM is encouraging us to import more cheap goods from China. I would be more than happy to oblige if it were not for the fact that the very thing that I am likely to import on a regular basis is to be made an illegal import by his government.
Of course the intent of his governments ban on importation is to protect society from people who would misuse such items. And yet....and yet what does the honest man really think will be the result of this significant limitation on the liberty on, perhaps, 10,000 airsofting individuals in the UK.
A reduction in gun crime? A reduction in the misuse of replica weapons?
Don't make me laugh. The thugs and the springer kiddies will simply move on to alternatives as I have suggested.
And what will we be left with? Another sporting/gaming activity in decline, a few thousand disillusioned individuals who have to find something else to do on the weekend and a few sound bites from a lobby who are anti anything gun shaped. I can hear them now:
"No crime has been committed with a legally imported replica since this legislation was passed. It has been a significant success."And on the streets things will have got worse and then they will move onto the next target of their chronic failure.
For a failure it is. The effort and expense that has been put into limiting our ability to enjoy pastimes that were once perfectly legitimate is effort and expense that has been wasted. These people have failed everyone but never see themselves as needing to take ownership of any of the blame.
What if the millions were spent elsewhere? What if the time was spent more creatively? What if the same old formula of legislate and ban made room for something new?
What if, for instance, people are made more aware of what the actual existing legislation on replica guns is? You're a clever person, do you know? Are you a parent? Do you know what the law is regarding that realistic looking toy your child has? Do they know? Do you let them out with it? Many, many adults and children do not as is borne out by the sorry and truthful excuses we see these people give to the police down the station at 4am in the morning.
Could "accidental gun crime" be reduced by, oh I don't know, actually informing people?
That's just one creative aspect of the educational tool available to us that has not been tried to crack this particular nut.
But no, no. They use the same old formula again and again. And they fail again and again. They let everybody down, sporting gun users and each and every other member of the public.
