The situation in the United Kingdom (UK) went from bad to worse pretty quickly. After looking into the story more thoroughly I feel that I can make a more education post in relation to the riots. First we need to start with the catalyst, the shooing of Mark Duggan.
I incorrectly stated yesterday that Duggan was a demonstrator, like I said I hadn’t had time to look into the story and thus incorrect statements were likely. Mark Duggan wasn’t a demonstrator, he was a man the police were apparently trying to arrest. Early it was stated that Duggan shot at the police but recent evidence refutes such claims:
Mr Duggan, 29, whose death sparked the first riots in Tottenham, died from a single bullet wound, an inquest heard.
The police watchdog said ballistic tests showed “no evidence that the handgun found at the scene was fired”.
According to reports the officers that killed Duggan were part of Operation Trident. Operation Trident was established due to the fact people aren’t free to own means of self-defense in the UK. The specialty of Operation Trident is dealing with gun “crime” (quotations used because the task force deals treats ownership as a crime even though it’s not by any sane standards) in black communities. So why were the police initially attempting to arrest Duggan? Was it because he was in possession of a firearm? If so he was murdered in my opinion since ownership of an item isn’t grounds for the use of lethal force.
On the other hand if Duggan used his firearm in a threatening manner I can see why the police would consider the act one in which lethal force was an appropriate response. This scenario seems unlikely to me as the police would have mentioned it as their justification for shooting Duggan.
Either way we have a man killed by the police which lead to a demonstration and that demonstration lead to a multi-day riot in several cities in the UK. In a true statement of idiocy the people rioting over a grievance with their government have turned to destroying the private property of people who aren’t even employees of the government.
Another thing to note is the plight of the defenseless victims of the rioters. In the UK citizens have no right to self-defense and the most effective means of self-defense have been confiscated and deemed illegal. Because of this those who reside in the areas where rioting is prevalent are at the mercy of the roving mobs. Those of us living in the United States are fortunate that our government hasn’t completely stripped us of our right to keep and bear arms. When riots happen in this country the people being assault by rioters have a means of evening the odds and increasing their chances of surviving the encounter. Being the target of an angry mob is not a good situation regardless but having a firearm at least grants you the capability to defending yourself against multiple attackers.
Those living in the UK have no such ability and thus their only choices are pray that they aren’t preyed upon by the riots or become defenseless victims if they’re caught by those roaming the streets looking for violence. Hell, if the people in the UK weren’t prohibited the ownership of firearms this entire situation may not have occurred as it’s possible Duggan was being arrested merely for the possession of a gun (it’s also possible he was being arrested for something else, the police haven’t publicly released any information that I’m aware of). The last sentence is something for you anti-gunners to consider.
In the end the only thing that is certain is that things went to Hell quickly in the UK. It’s likely that we’ll never know the entirety of the story but it is likely that the UK government will use these riots as an excuse to further strip those living under it’s rule of their few remaining rights.
Oh, and those security cameras the government put up everywhere to spy on the citizenry didn’t do jack shit. I just thought I’d point that out in case anybody believed public surveillance somehow deterred crime.