Des Merrion status or whereabouts?

Originally Posted by Journeyman

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The United States is an interesting case, as gun possession is so widespread, and such a political hot issue, that there is effectively no chance whatsoever that guns will be prohibited.

As a result - as far as my limited knowledge extends - most people writing about guns and the US have essentially opined that because there is no likelihood that guns will be eradicated, governments should promote responsible gun use in an attempt to prevent gun misuse.

This is significantly different to most Western countries and thus - in my humble opinion, at least - attempting to compare the US to the UK and other Western countries is like comparing apples to automobiles.

Guns are big big business in the US....

Some people own up to 40 guns in their houses..

After all the schooland gang shootings, the gun lobby is so strong and powerfuml no laws have been passed to control it...

I do personally think that if nobody had guns except the police , it will be a safer place...

Of course, American people care about what the world think ...

I'm not talking of the Fox news followers and non-passport holders...

Clearly I gave this thread the wrong title. I'd hoped to restrict the focus to where/if Des Merrion could be contacted so I could get some resolution on a suit that has languished in an unfinished state for two years. Instead, it's morphed into some sort of Dostoyevskyian "Crime and Punishment' debate on access to guns, appropriate prison sentences, blah blah. I'm of a mind to stop checking the thread out and just leave y'all to it.

Originally Posted by lasbar

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Some people own up to 40 guns in their houses..

And many Americans own a lot more than 40 guns in their houses. I can think of one friend of mine who had in excess of 400 guns, and that was years ago. I'm sure the number is greater now. Another fellow has more than 600 handguns alone, although he had the excuse of being a gun writer.

Six hundred handguns, if you're not a systematic collector, seems like a bit much, even for the likes of me.

Originally Posted by JLibourel

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And many Americans own a lot more than 40 guns in their houses. I can think of one friend of mine who had in excess of 400 guns, and that was years ago. I'm sure the number is greater now. Another fellow has more than 600 handguns alone, although he had the excuse of being a gun writer.

Six hundred handguns, if you're not a systematic collector, seems like a bit much, even for the likes of me.

I love my suits but I would never have more than 50 of them at the same time...

Do you think the easy access to guns is actually feeding that kind of behaviour or something deeper in the Americans DNA?

Originally Posted by lasbar

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Do you think the easy access to guns is actually feeding that kind of behaviour or something deeper in the Americans DNA?

I do not know where this theory of easy access comes from. What is easy access? Buying guns off the streets from a criminal...this can be done in any international city except Singapore (where it is done underground).

As far as comments of gun owners being morons...how sad that an adult...like Rob (TEHesketh) would lower himself to submit such a response...shame on you . I would expect such uninformed comments from a high school teenager...not an adult

Journeyman, your comments are well taken...which is the conclusion of the book that I cited earlier in this thread.

Originally Posted by Michael Ay329

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I do not know where this theory of easy access comes from. What is easy access? Buying guns off the streets from a criminal...this can be done in any international city except Singapore (where it is done underground).

As far as comments of gun owners being morons...how sad that an adult...like Rob (TEHesketh) would lower himself to submit such a response...shame on you

. I would expect such uninformed comments from a high school teenager...not an adult

Journeyman, your comments are well taken...which is the conclusion of the book that I cited earlier in this thread.

If you can go into a shop ,a mall, a gun fair with a driver licence and get a gun, that's easy access...

I don't say gun owners are morons ,I just don't get it...

If I was surrounded by guns ,I might hsave one but I'm happy living in a place where gun homicides are very rare...

Originally Posted by lasbar

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If you can go into a shop ,a mall, a gun fair with a driver licence and get a gun, that's easy access... I don't say gun owners are morons ,I just don't get it... If I was surrounded by guns ,I might hsave one but I'm happy living in a place where gun homicides are very rare...
The vast majority of gun related crime in the UK is perpetrated by criminals with illegal guns and this has been the case for decades and has been growing, in fact I believe it has doubled in the last decade. Therefore, the ban on pistols has had no effect whatsoever, except to criminalise people with a legitimate interest in guns. I, by the way, do not and never have owned a firearm.

Gun bans/control obviously have no effect on illegal activity (ie. organised crime), as they can get any guns they want all of the time. That is the case in every country in the world. Gun control does, however, effect the amount of gun massacres that seem to occur regularly/semi regularly in certain countries (eg. Australia had the worst ever mass gun murder in 1996, after which we instituted some measure of gun control. Gun crime is still rife, through gangs etc. but we haven't had a massacre since 1996). Doesn't knock them out in totality, obviously. No law/control is ever 100% effective. But it does limit such occurrences. And that, surely, is a good thing.

Mr Merion taking it upon himself to colude with someone to import an illegal fire arm is exactly how these guns end up on the street. Not sure of Mr Merion's intention but lets assume he wanted it only for private shooting in the woods. If he was ever burgled, its possible that gun would fall in to the wrong hands.

I personally think that if you wanted to shoot for sport then its fine to own one (one not 400), Des stepped over the line by sawing the barrel of his shot gun, the only people needing one of those are bank robbers hiding it under a trench coat, or for scaring the **** out of customers who dont pay for the suits on time.

Originally Posted by cdmoore1855

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Des stepped over the line by sawing the barrel of his shot gun, the only people needing one of those are bank robbers hiding it under a trench coat, or for scaring the **** out of customers who dont pay for the suits on time.
Sadly in England, the unwashed masses have only this negative image of the short barreled (aka sawed off shotgun)...that only criminals use them. But in fact, for the English police and military firearms units, the short barreled shotguns are the preferred type of shotgun for the following reasons. I have trained with shorter barrel shotguns (12-14 inches) and the traditional length of 18.5 inches. No one in their right mind wants to use 22-29 inch barrels found on duck hunting guns for home defense. In close quarters within the home, on semi-automatic shotguns, I have found shorter barreled shotguns to be easier to maneuver and less cumbersome than those with barrels 18.5 inches and longer. The downside is less weight (cuz of the shorter barrels) means a bit more kick with the shotgun (especially if a side by side double barrel blast is let loose), and a few less rounds are available for immediate use due to a shorter magazine. English movies sadly glorify the criminal misuse of guns and this perpetuates the stereotype that the English public has that guns are bad...gun banning is good...unless you are a victim of a firearm crime and are screwed because your fellow citizens distrusted you and left you helpless. In America, good persons put short barreled shotguns to good use every day when deterring violent crime and I hope this positive image is taken into account by overseas non gun users with a distaste for civilian gun possession. Considering Des had a family (wife and younger kids) to protect, I presume he had the shotgun and handgun available to protect his family from violent crime...especially due to his honorable prior military service and the pride he had in seeing his oldest son serve with the paras. I have positive role models of good persons who used firearms safely and legally....with the misguided banning of firearms...notably handguns, overseas, no average citizen will have a positive role model within their community to look up to and respect for properly possessing firearms. All that is left are criminals and the police...and this only serves the extremist gun banning crowd since this is part of the brainwashing they have perpetuated on an unsuspecting populace, here and in the UK I would like to personally thank the OP for starting this thread

Originally Posted by greger

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Progressives are rather short sighted to many times. The way they have the system going is that crime pays unless you are the victim because, criminals get off so easy. With the progressive's laws I can shoot somebody or knife somebody to death, so the victim completely looses, and I be out of prison in less than a year, because it is wrong to be mean to a criminal, and then go back and continue to do more crimes. From that sense there is no law because there is no reason to stop. Then progressives pat themselves on the back by making it a crime for anyone to have a gun, including those, over 90% of gun owners, who would never use a gun for crime. Then they lie to themselves that they are winning. Criminalizing innocent people, over 90% of gun owners, is of course, unintelligent no matter how good the progressives grammar is. They simply are not capable of separating the facts from fantasy.

So much of the thought process of progressives is, "Government, hold my hand". Thumb sucking embarrassing. Like mommy helping them pull up their pants and getting the arms into the sleeves, not to mention, mommy tucking in the shirt tails. These people are to childish to be making laws. Their followers are like yoked oxen pulling somebody else's cart full of junk that should go to the dump.

Instead they should be trying to figure out how people can feel safe around guns because they are safe, than to be childishly fearful and panic. If you look in the past where children took guns to school and had shooting contest- what kind of thinking made these children safe? One Canadian author (born 1915) tells of him and his peers having traplines on the way to school and home again. The older children took guns mostly because of the traplines. Once they forgot to tell the schoolmarm, well, umm, they got a few days off because she caught a shunk and mishandled the fine creature.

You see progressives think they are so smart, but know nothing about so much that is out there, and they try to foolishly rule everybody with their lack of intelligence- that is anti-freedom, not to mention stupid. Comprehend? Or, brainwashed? Which are you? So many have written here as followers and not leaders. Know what the difference is between a follower and a leader? Followers don't think - leaders do.

Your fulminations indicate a lack of education. Perhaps you were spending too much time at the
shooting range? And your written expression hints at only a passing acquaintance with English. Of
course, I may be wrong. You could be drunk.

Originally Posted by lasbar

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If you can go into a shop ,a mall, a gun fair with a driver licence and get a gun, that's easy access...

I don't say gun owners are morons ,I just don't get it...

If I was surrounded by guns ,I might hsave one but I'm happy living in a place where gun homicides are very rare...

Why do people ski, collect stamps, sail sail boats, own motor yachts, climb mountains, or any other hobby?

Originally Posted by comrade

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Your fulminations indicate a lack of education.

How can I write back when you don't explain where you think I am wrong.

Go read the Canadian author Andy Russell and you will read the skunk story.

In my life time I have heard of plenty of stories where children have taken guns to school.
Not to mention schools having guns for PE class.
These children were not afraid with all the guns around because there was not reason to be afraid.
If you can not believe that it is because the adult world your around has lost its ability to think.
It has lost its ability to handle crime because it does not know how to think about, so they don't know what to do to bring back since and safety, so they band guns. Not working to well is it?

Young people have no clue what life was like before they were born. And if you are from a big city can you imagine an 8 year old driving a tractor down the road with a couple of loaded hay wagons in tow? And it being legal? Farming laws out rank driving license laws in some states. At least did a few years ago in this state. Rural children are responsible at a much younger age than city kids about somethings in life.

I have not shot guns for a couple of decades except for a couple of times. What I don't like seeing is people being dumbed down. And if you ever find you have serious enemies (cowards) and you have to get government permission you will disappear sooner. Believe me, a choke chain tossed over your head and nobody is going to hear you scream for help. Hand cuffs on your wrists and you can't defend yourself. This is not a joke. It happens every single day to more than one. The world never hears the side of the victim. These criminals who do these things are not using guns. They like silence. Silence attracts no attention. Who should have a gun in times like that? The victim. Are you able to comprehend that?

Michael

'Considering Des had a family (wife and younger kids) to protect, I presume he had the shotgun and handgun available to protect his family from violent crime'

This is a definate no no in the UK. Although, I am all for someone protecting their property, the law makers who live with round the clock protection and far removed from the real world think we should be asking a burgler how many sugars they want in their cup of tea rather than sticking a sawn off up their nostrils. A louisville Slugger will do the job, unless of course the scrote breaking in has a gun, which is still fairly rare in the UK.

A farmer not too far away from my home town made himself famous (tony martin) at the end of the last century by blowing a 13 year old burgler away with his illegal shotgun. He refused to apologise and was sentenced to prison, a public outcry follow and he was released early.

Originally Posted by cdmoore1855

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A farmer not too far away from my home town made himself famous (tony martin) at the end of the last century by blowing a 13 year old burgler away with his illegal shotgun. He refused to apologise and was sentenced to prison, a public outcry follow and he was released early.

That story reminds me of Veitnam where children brought explosives to kill US solders. What's a solder to do? Shooting the five year olds is not right, and yet he is going to die anyway and the solder. That equals two deaths.

A laser scope on the gun and the unwanted customer see the red dot on his shirt or coat is a good reason to surrender. I'm not for shooting unwanted guess unless they make it necessary. Although, shooting them in the leg so the cops catch them isn't a bad idea. Killing a 13 year old sound really bad, but did he know the age of the person? Did he have a hood over his head to hide his identity? There are a lot of unknowns, such as is there one or more criminals in the house? Will they hurt your children? The list goes on. Why is the person breaking the law? Is it a burglary or something else? Children have been raped in their own homes while their parents slept. A few concerns. By the time the law enforcement comes how much damage will have happened and to whom or who? These kinds of stories go both ways. After the fact accusations flies. But if you are the at home and somebody is in your house when they shouldn't be you don't know if you are going to be alive before it is over. Back in the 60s people were being killed in their own house by their very own kitchen knives. So often these criminals (cowards) are to afraid to surrender and spend a few months in jail, so needless damage and death happens in every country in the world. The minds of criminals is weakness.