Time to carry a knife?

Question

A 34 year old man was beaten senseless by 5 youths in Aberdeen this week. If he was given the right to defend himself by striping the lads with a knife at least he would have stood a chance of escape.

We have the right to defend ourselves.

Sadly the police - the natural enemy - have conspired to outlaw any hope of self protection, and will turn up 3 weeks later at the mans home asking if it was him who 'reported a stolen washing machine, madam'.

Police officers need not bother answering, thankyou.

Answer 1

Not sure the fault lies with the police. Perhaps with the politicians and the numerous "reforms" to satisfy the media baying for blood? All the bureaucracy they have to deal with takes the police off the streets. That's not to say there are bad police officers. There are bad apples in most barrels aren't there?

The law does allow you to defend yourself doesn't it? You can use reasonable force.

As for carrying a knife for protection, is that the answer? Probably not.

Answer 2

That is how this whole thing has got out of hand - more people stated carrying a knife out of fear.  But in reality, it can easily be turned on you!

Answer 3

A knife against a knife maybe ok in Hollywood,but in the real world it takes a very brave or foolish person to take on a thug with a blade in his hand.The answer is to either carry a gun (chance is you will get shot yourself) or an umbrella.

A what I hear you cry.A decent size golfing umbrella has reach,a sharp point for poking and a hard handle for bring down between the assailants eyes thus rendering him senseless,and in your defence you could always say you where trying to open it because of the rain

Answer 4

The police don't make the law, they just have to enforce it.

Answer 5

It is ALWAYS time to carry a knife, one of the oldest and most versatile tools known to man. If your government prohibits them it's either time to overthrow that government or emigrate.

Answer 6

Better yet a gun.

Answer 7

I'll answer anyway as this is an open forum.  If you don't want an answer, don't post a question.

We as a Police service have to enforce the rules and laws put in place by the government who we as the people elect.  We may not always agree with the laws but we have to enforce them anyway as we are duty bound to do so.

If you think it’s a good idea to carry a knife then you are as misguided as those that do.  Its this kind of attitude that caused the problem in the first place.

I carry weapons in the course of my duty as I'm authorised to do so but can only use them lawfully when I'm at work.  When I'm off duty I am as vulnerable as anyone else to a knife attack or other use of violence but I wouldn't dream of carrying a knife as this makes me as bad as the people that do.

When I am at work, I will gladly and often do go running into to potentially dangerous situations to protect others, its what I'm paid to do.  I may not always be there the instant that trouble occurs as I unfortunately haven't yet mastered the art of teleportation or premonition but I do my best with what I'm given.

I agree that things are getting worse in this Country and I'm in a position to know but if we all begin to arm ourselves and take the law into our own hands than it will get worse still.

You do have the right to defend yourself, it’s called common law powers but you have to act in a reasonable manner.  This however is down to you to define.

Until we have a government that cuts the red tape and lets the Police do their job the way many of us want to then we will have to put up with what we've got.

If you think that you (and all the other negatives) can make a difference, we will be recruiting some time this year.

Answer 8

I agree with you.  The British Police Service is a con...a lie!

If they turned up, it would be to arrest the victim because the assailants mascara got smudged!

Sack the whole lot of the useless spongers and bring back a police FORCE.

Answer 9

The police are not the natural enemy, they are just the poor bstds who have to uphold the law - which means doing nothing for no-one so they can achieve their target of doing nothing for no-one.

As for self defence, there's a lot more damage that can be done with Kung Fu than a weapon.

Answer 10

If he was allowed to carry a knife then so would his attackers and he would be dead.The law is at fault,if those youths were looking at a 10 year sentence for assault then they would think twice about attacking someone.The way it is now they will probably do a few months in a young offenders institute .

Answer 11

That's awful, poor man. I don't think it's the fault of the Police they don't make the laws. It's down to this government, the do gooders and the pc brigade that we are not allowed to defend ourselves. Victims have no rights, they belong to the criminals.

Answer 12

Gimme a break Kung-Fu is for the young and fit not us seniors.! (lol)  The obvious solution is to arm the police and allow every citizen to carry a concealed weapon of choice. Then the cowardly violent street gangs and thugs who assault people that are graetly outnumbered would receive their just deserts.

                                          b a n g !

Poetic justice...........how sweet the sound.! to have saved a wretch like us.!

Answer 13

The time is passed if he already got beat.... we have a saying in the States, often used by law enforcement officers and self defense aficionados to refer to the debate over whether to carry a self defense weapon of one type or another regardless of its legality, or how much force was appropriate in a given situation....

"I'd rather be judged by 12, than carried by 6."

It might not be ideal, but its your life and your choice.

Answer 14

It is not the police that make the laws, its the politicians, you notice after 5 stabbings this week in the UK, Gordon Brown will announce new legislation on monday against knife crime.

What about this weekend then , he's the prime minister 24/7 not 24/5.

Answer 15

Carrying a knife would continue the circle of deaths caused by knife attacks. That way there wouldn't be a chance of it ending. But, I can see your point and it's quite sad that we'd have to come to the conclusion to carry a knife ourselves and just be as bad as the "Yobs".

Like a wise man once said:

"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."

So, by thinking of protecting yourself from knife crimes by carrying a knife - that won't solve anything. In fact, it would carry on the wave of knife killings.

Answer 16

What is the point of rushing out to report a stolen washing machine? Sometimes jobs drag on for weeks when the only times a person want to be spoken to is at busy times. I don't believe that's the reason you dislike the police so much, been in trouble recently?

Your suggestion of carrying knifes is as educated as your knowledge of law and government.

Your example is a stupid one, 5 youths would easily overpower one person with a knife. The likelihood of it then being used against them is high.

Be quiet and go back to school young man.

Answer 17

I carry a 2d maglite, id like to see them try and charge me with possessing an offensive weapon and after using it for self-defence its unlikely to end up a trumped up murder charge