Thumper
07-01-2019, 09:00 AM
I apologize, this will be a Thump post, but trust me, it's worth the read if you give a rat's ass about your rights.
I got into a heated argument with eBay last week and ended up calling one of their Customer Service reps. some not so flattering names. Yes, I was PISSED, but there was a lot that lead up to that which I won't get into right now as I don't want to dilute the gist of this post. There's a lot to absorb here, not just the surface of the post, but the underlying facts and repercussions. I sometimes think the NRA stance of inflexibility on gun laws is a bit overboard, but the warning has always been, the anti's will chip away at our rights. A victory here, and a victory there ... next thing you know, all gun rights have been wiped out. I'm starting to believe that.
I sell a TON of knives on eBay. Mostly OLD, carbon steel kitchen knives, meat cleavers and the like, but I also do the higher end modern stuff like Cutco, etc. Hunting knives and pocket knives get thrown into the mix from time to time, but I'm heavy into old kitchen type cutlery and it's a bit of a passion. I've sold literally 100's of knives on eBay and currently have many listed. Without exaggerating, I'd have to guess I have at least 100 or more here waiting to be listed. Last week, I received a nasty message from eBay letting me know they've deleted one of my knife listings and if I do it again, there will be hell to pay. I called and there was probably a 30-minute heated argument where I ended up being turned over to a supervisor. She was no better than the first rep. who ditched me and I ended up calling them a bunch of eBay Nazi's before ending the call. I steamed for a while and called again to talk to a "Specialist". He examined the case and finally said, 'Oh, I see the problem ... you ship globally, but you can't ship knives to the UK or Ireland."
WTF? I told him I'm not shipping frigging throwing stars and switchblades, these are fucking KITCHEN knives! I was told yessir, ya' can't ship ANY knives and even to sell a kitchen knife, you have to be able to verify the buyer is over 18, which I have no way of doing. WTF? How 'bout a BUTTER KNIFE? I was told NO knives! I bitched that if the worthless c..ts in the CS Dept. had explained that to me, I could have simply deleted the UK and Ireland from my mailing list, but they took it upon themselves to delete it ... which will be a huge waste of time on my part because I have to re-take photos, make a new listing, etc, etc. (once they delete it, there's no way to recover the listing) Enough of that, but it's the impetus for the crux of this post.
I wondered why I could ship knives most everywhere in the world except the UK and Ireland, so I started doing a little bit of research. I mean, I've known forever that guns are a no-no, but knives?? You know the old saying, "Guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people". Here's what I just found out about the UK. (cut & paste)
LONDON
Now They're Coming for People's Knives. No, Really.
London's got a homicide problem, but leaders insist it's being caused by the tools.
You'd better sit down for this one.
London has been suffering a spate of homicides recently, bad enough that some contend the murder rate is now worse than New York's. It is, but only if you look at the past couple of months. February, for instance, saw 11 homicides in New York and 15 in London, most of them committed with knives.
In light of that crime spike London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, has laid down the law. "No excuses," he declared the other day on Twitter. "There is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law."
Britain imposes strict gun control. It also imposes absurdly strict knife control. The government forbids carrying a knife in public "without good reason, unless it has a folding blade with a cutting edge 3 inches long or less."
Take note: Lock-back knives—the kind in which the blade locks in the open position, to prevent accidental folding while the knife is being held, and thus lacerated fingers—are verboten no matter the blade length. Lock-backs "can include multi-tool knives—tools that also contain other devices such as a screwdriver or can opener." And a "good reason" for carrying a knife includes using the knife for work, or perhaps "historical reenactment or religious purposes." Not, say, self-defense, or just because a knife sometimes comes in handy.
Any violent death is a tragedy, but London's response to recent knifings borders on the comedic. London has a Knife Crime Strategy. The police recently called "an emergency meeting of community leaders" after a spate of stabbings. "[We] have been absolutely clear that we cannot tackle knife crime alone," said the Metropolitan Police.
More broadly, Britain operates under the governing assumption of gun control—which is that instruments cause crime, and if only the instruments could somehow be made to disappear, then so too would crime.
Hence "the UK has some of the toughest gun control laws in the world," reports the BBC. "If you want to own a gun, it is very difficult to do so. [The system] has been designed to put as many barriers [to gun ownership] in the way as possible and to assume the worst, rather than hope for the best." Would-be gun owners must obtain a license, which involves a lengthy process during which "independent referees provide confidential character statements" about the applicant's "mental state, home life, and attitude towards guns." (Note: home life.) Still, the BBC wonders: "Are there areas left that could be further tightened?"
The result of all this gun control? A London homicide rate higher than New York's, at least in the short term.
So now the city intends to crack down on knives. Khan also has announced that "patrols have been stepped up with extra stop-and-search powers in place in the worst-affected areas." If London is anything like New York, those stop-and-frisk policies will target minorities and the poor at highly disproportionate rates, without achieving much of anything: In New York, stop-and-frisk searches found weapons a mere 1.2 percent of the time.
"Our communities are sick and tired of the damage being done by knife crime," Khan writes in the city's Knife Crime Strategy. The strategy aims to "deter anyone thinking of carrying a knife." It notes that those who commit knife crimes are generally male and "frequently from a BAME background"—i.e., black, Asian, and minority ethnic. Some offenders are "habitual knife carriers." And for them, the government supports a policy of "two strikes and you're out"—"a minimum custodial sentence for those aged 16 and over who are convicted of a second or subsequent offence of possession of a knife or offensive weapon." The minimum sentence is four months for juveniles and six months for adults.
But that is still not enough for some. John Crichton, chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, wants the country to ban pointed kitchen knives as well. "He first suggested the move three years ago," reported the Express last year, "but his proposal did not win enough support from policy-makers. Since then dozens of people, including schoolchildren, have lost their lives as a result of attacks involving bladed instruments."
If Khan, Crichton, and Co. got their way, that would naturally solve London's violence problem, right? Of course not. In short order they would discover the need to ban some other instrument of violence—lead pipes or cricket bats, perhaps—because focusing on the instrument of violence attends to the symptom, not the disease. And, yes, sometimes treating horrific symptoms is preferable to not treating them. But as Londoners have learned, it's still no cure.
When gun-rights advocates warn that if gun-control groups win, they'll go after knives next, it sounds like an absurd exaggeration. In Britain, it's now official government policy.
OK, it's me again, Thump. I thought I'd dig a little more and located this little tidbit. I already knew that London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan is a Muslim leftist ... described as a Democratic Socialist (sound familiar?). But while researching deeper into this "knife ban", I ran across this tid-bit which I find VERY interesting. Kirpans, are legal to carry ... IF you are a Sikh! Here's a description the reason why they're legal.
The kirpan is a sword or small dagger, originating from the Indian subcontinent, carried by Sikhs. It is also part of a religious commandment given by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, in which he demanded that Sikhs must wear the five articles of faith (the five Ks) at all times, the kirpan being one of five Ks.
Wanna see some kirpan examples? Very interesting. I'll start with a nice kirpan boot dagger! (every good Sikh needs one of these!)
10761
And a few more kirpans ...
10762 10763 10764
Are you are a Sikh and need to cash a check in the UK? No problem ....
10765
But you deplorable heathens better not get caught with your Buck or you'll go directly to jail!
10766 10767
I got into a heated argument with eBay last week and ended up calling one of their Customer Service reps. some not so flattering names. Yes, I was PISSED, but there was a lot that lead up to that which I won't get into right now as I don't want to dilute the gist of this post. There's a lot to absorb here, not just the surface of the post, but the underlying facts and repercussions. I sometimes think the NRA stance of inflexibility on gun laws is a bit overboard, but the warning has always been, the anti's will chip away at our rights. A victory here, and a victory there ... next thing you know, all gun rights have been wiped out. I'm starting to believe that.
I sell a TON of knives on eBay. Mostly OLD, carbon steel kitchen knives, meat cleavers and the like, but I also do the higher end modern stuff like Cutco, etc. Hunting knives and pocket knives get thrown into the mix from time to time, but I'm heavy into old kitchen type cutlery and it's a bit of a passion. I've sold literally 100's of knives on eBay and currently have many listed. Without exaggerating, I'd have to guess I have at least 100 or more here waiting to be listed. Last week, I received a nasty message from eBay letting me know they've deleted one of my knife listings and if I do it again, there will be hell to pay. I called and there was probably a 30-minute heated argument where I ended up being turned over to a supervisor. She was no better than the first rep. who ditched me and I ended up calling them a bunch of eBay Nazi's before ending the call. I steamed for a while and called again to talk to a "Specialist". He examined the case and finally said, 'Oh, I see the problem ... you ship globally, but you can't ship knives to the UK or Ireland."
WTF? I told him I'm not shipping frigging throwing stars and switchblades, these are fucking KITCHEN knives! I was told yessir, ya' can't ship ANY knives and even to sell a kitchen knife, you have to be able to verify the buyer is over 18, which I have no way of doing. WTF? How 'bout a BUTTER KNIFE? I was told NO knives! I bitched that if the worthless c..ts in the CS Dept. had explained that to me, I could have simply deleted the UK and Ireland from my mailing list, but they took it upon themselves to delete it ... which will be a huge waste of time on my part because I have to re-take photos, make a new listing, etc, etc. (once they delete it, there's no way to recover the listing) Enough of that, but it's the impetus for the crux of this post.
I wondered why I could ship knives most everywhere in the world except the UK and Ireland, so I started doing a little bit of research. I mean, I've known forever that guns are a no-no, but knives?? You know the old saying, "Guns don't kill people, PEOPLE kill people". Here's what I just found out about the UK. (cut & paste)
LONDON
Now They're Coming for People's Knives. No, Really.
London's got a homicide problem, but leaders insist it's being caused by the tools.
You'd better sit down for this one.
London has been suffering a spate of homicides recently, bad enough that some contend the murder rate is now worse than New York's. It is, but only if you look at the past couple of months. February, for instance, saw 11 homicides in New York and 15 in London, most of them committed with knives.
In light of that crime spike London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, has laid down the law. "No excuses," he declared the other day on Twitter. "There is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law."
Britain imposes strict gun control. It also imposes absurdly strict knife control. The government forbids carrying a knife in public "without good reason, unless it has a folding blade with a cutting edge 3 inches long or less."
Take note: Lock-back knives—the kind in which the blade locks in the open position, to prevent accidental folding while the knife is being held, and thus lacerated fingers—are verboten no matter the blade length. Lock-backs "can include multi-tool knives—tools that also contain other devices such as a screwdriver or can opener." And a "good reason" for carrying a knife includes using the knife for work, or perhaps "historical reenactment or religious purposes." Not, say, self-defense, or just because a knife sometimes comes in handy.
Any violent death is a tragedy, but London's response to recent knifings borders on the comedic. London has a Knife Crime Strategy. The police recently called "an emergency meeting of community leaders" after a spate of stabbings. "[We] have been absolutely clear that we cannot tackle knife crime alone," said the Metropolitan Police.
More broadly, Britain operates under the governing assumption of gun control—which is that instruments cause crime, and if only the instruments could somehow be made to disappear, then so too would crime.
Hence "the UK has some of the toughest gun control laws in the world," reports the BBC. "If you want to own a gun, it is very difficult to do so. [The system] has been designed to put as many barriers [to gun ownership] in the way as possible and to assume the worst, rather than hope for the best." Would-be gun owners must obtain a license, which involves a lengthy process during which "independent referees provide confidential character statements" about the applicant's "mental state, home life, and attitude towards guns." (Note: home life.) Still, the BBC wonders: "Are there areas left that could be further tightened?"
The result of all this gun control? A London homicide rate higher than New York's, at least in the short term.
So now the city intends to crack down on knives. Khan also has announced that "patrols have been stepped up with extra stop-and-search powers in place in the worst-affected areas." If London is anything like New York, those stop-and-frisk policies will target minorities and the poor at highly disproportionate rates, without achieving much of anything: In New York, stop-and-frisk searches found weapons a mere 1.2 percent of the time.
"Our communities are sick and tired of the damage being done by knife crime," Khan writes in the city's Knife Crime Strategy. The strategy aims to "deter anyone thinking of carrying a knife." It notes that those who commit knife crimes are generally male and "frequently from a BAME background"—i.e., black, Asian, and minority ethnic. Some offenders are "habitual knife carriers." And for them, the government supports a policy of "two strikes and you're out"—"a minimum custodial sentence for those aged 16 and over who are convicted of a second or subsequent offence of possession of a knife or offensive weapon." The minimum sentence is four months for juveniles and six months for adults.
But that is still not enough for some. John Crichton, chairman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland, wants the country to ban pointed kitchen knives as well. "He first suggested the move three years ago," reported the Express last year, "but his proposal did not win enough support from policy-makers. Since then dozens of people, including schoolchildren, have lost their lives as a result of attacks involving bladed instruments."
If Khan, Crichton, and Co. got their way, that would naturally solve London's violence problem, right? Of course not. In short order they would discover the need to ban some other instrument of violence—lead pipes or cricket bats, perhaps—because focusing on the instrument of violence attends to the symptom, not the disease. And, yes, sometimes treating horrific symptoms is preferable to not treating them. But as Londoners have learned, it's still no cure.
When gun-rights advocates warn that if gun-control groups win, they'll go after knives next, it sounds like an absurd exaggeration. In Britain, it's now official government policy.
OK, it's me again, Thump. I thought I'd dig a little more and located this little tidbit. I already knew that London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan is a Muslim leftist ... described as a Democratic Socialist (sound familiar?). But while researching deeper into this "knife ban", I ran across this tid-bit which I find VERY interesting. Kirpans, are legal to carry ... IF you are a Sikh! Here's a description the reason why they're legal.
The kirpan is a sword or small dagger, originating from the Indian subcontinent, carried by Sikhs. It is also part of a religious commandment given by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, in which he demanded that Sikhs must wear the five articles of faith (the five Ks) at all times, the kirpan being one of five Ks.
Wanna see some kirpan examples? Very interesting. I'll start with a nice kirpan boot dagger! (every good Sikh needs one of these!)
10761
And a few more kirpans ...
10762 10763 10764
Are you are a Sikh and need to cash a check in the UK? No problem ....
10765
But you deplorable heathens better not get caught with your Buck or you'll go directly to jail!
10766 10767