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0 pointsVBprogrammer12y ago0 comments

I'd love to see a citation for that.

Maybe its just the sad fact that bad news tends to travel more widely but I have yet to hear (on UK news) of a situation were an honest law abiding citizen has stopped a tragedy. I realize that their very intervention may have stopped a tragedy, making it not news worthy but I'm sure there should be more instances to justify that argument.

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6 comments · 5 top-level

GVIrish12y ago· 1 in thread

Well in the UK law-abiding citizens can't arm themselves so you'll never hear that story. The law in the UK even goes so far as to prohibit citizens from carrying an 'offensive weapon' without a good reason.

So if you happened to be walking down the street with a knife and you were not a chef on the way to work, you could be arrested.

hga12y ago

Even using "more force" than the assailant is illegal. Even if both are examples of deadly force, e.g gun v. knife. Done by the courts in the '50s, the Parliament in the '60s, so even the habits of self-defense are a distant memory.

ctdonath12y ago

There are a LOT of would-be mass murders which were cut short because someone was armed and stopped the attacker either before killing started or after just 2-3 deaths. They don't enter the mass murder statistics precisely because they didn't happen despite intention thereto. The info you want is easily found on the web.

hga12y ago

It happens an estimated 2.25 million times a year in the US. Needless to say, the vast majority of these involve neither the gun being fired or publicity.

My favorite independent site was taken out by the Righthaven copyright trolls, but you can start with this: http://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/armed-citizen.aspx ; each item is from the media.

dllthomas12y ago

Someone recently stopped a bank robbery in Michigan. I'm actually not sure whether intervention was wise, but the outcome was good - no one injured, thief arrested.

http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/06/customer_foils_ba...

lupatus12y ago

Here's one instance: http://www.azcentral.com/news/free/20121218flagstaff-gun-tot...

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