UK: Ex-soldier faces jail for handing in gun

This is what prosecutorial quotas do to the implementation of justice. Note the sentence at the end of the story: "- Comments on this story have been disabled for legal reasons" Chill up the spine...

So aside form the general civil rights issues this case brings up, the specific MRA issue relevance here is this: If this were a woman, would she have been treated this way? I really, seriously doubt that. In fact I rather think she would be hailed as courageous even for picking the weapon up and held up as a model of civic virtue.

But in any case I am sure this decision, or I should say, I sure hope this decision, gets overturned on appeal. I can even see the ACLU (sorry, or the UK equivalent thereof) picking this one up. Turning in found contraband, even in the old Soviet bloc states, was cause for reward rather than arrest. Egad, what have we (ie, western countries) come to?

I'm a strong supporter of the 2nd amendment in the first place. So the fact that the U.K. has banned firearms is horrifying by it's self. But the fact that a citizen; a trained soldier no less, is going to serve at least 5 years in prison for turning in a shotgun to police is insane.

I wonder if police would do the same thing to one of their own. That is charge one of their own officers if he found a shotgun, picked it up, and turned it into the police station. Assuming that the officer in question didn't have a "firearms license".

I think the legal concept of "strict liability" is utter bullshit anyway, and it leads to atrocities like this. To say that someone is always at fault when a person possesses what bureaucrats have deemed a "dangerous" substance doesn't make sense.

We have the same inane concept in the United States.

Guess what happens if you get redirected to a illegal porn site with underage girls on it because some spammer in Russia hacked one of your favorite websites? Or because some parasite in Nigeria tricked you into clicking on a link from your email account. Or some troll thought it would be funny to use a new browser exploit in order to freak people out? You get thrown in the slammer that's what happens.

But what about the fact that you just typed in the url for your favorite website and child porn popped up?

Doesn't matter.

Didn't know that the link redirected to child porn?

Doesn't matter.

The fact that a troll hacked your browser to redirect you to illegal images?

Doesn't matter.

Like I said strict liability is a dangerous and illogical legal precedent and should be abolished. And if you think that some politically motivated, ambitious District Attorney cares about justice more then his re-election, or; his future career in politics, then you are sadly mistaken my friend.

There but for the grace of god goes you.

Once again I must comment on the UK. It is a POLICE STATE! They have more surveillance cameras than China. The police can stop and search you with no probable cause. Don't run to catch a subway train as you might be shot dead by police suspecting you are a terrorist. Every major street and highway has speed monitoring cameras (ie. photo radar). You can't even watch TV without a license which costs approximately $20 US/month.

I would never, ever visit the fascist state known as "Great" Britain. There is no constitution in the UK. We are lucky in Canada and the US to have a constitution which at least makes it more difficult for the elite to take over, but not impossible as we can see from today's pathetic North American society.

I guess they would rather a criminal or mass murderer have gotten ahold of the gun.
-ax

Well in the UK they pretty much treat citizens as criminals already. Guilty until proven innocent, you know, all in the name of catching terrorists (aka the boogeyman). I forgot to mention another fact about Britain. If the police stop you for anything, even minor traffic infractions they are allowed to take a sample of your DNA and keep it indefinitely, even if you are acquitted of your charges or never charged in the first place. Isn't "democracy" grand?

I think what keeps the U.S. from becoming quite as bad as the U.K., is that America has a Constitution. Perhaps in the final analysis, this will be the only thing that keeps us from sinking into a purely Orwellian society; then hopefully, there will be a gradual reversal in America which will then have a ripple effect throughout the world.

The problem is that I don't expect to see any reversal happen in my lifetime, unless they hurry up real fast with that frozen nitrogen stuff and reduce the price tag.

-ax

I hope that the country never gets to the point where it sinks too low to return to a sense of "normalcy". I don't expect to see a reversal during my lifetime either, only an escalation. The world we live in is a very sad place compared to the one my grandparents lived in.

The DNA snatchers: Police arresting innocents just to grab genetic details for Big Brother database.