Cyprus-Forum.com

[Nikitas]

Kristianikos,

It is all about claiming the outdoors, the common space outside our houses, and the confidence that if you ask for help then someone WILL help you, not concerned about becoming the accused because he helped you, like it happened with Bill above.

Notice how fields and orchards in Mediterranean countries are not fenced. This too is part of claiming the outdoors, and sharing a common code of conduct and respect for property. It all ties in with how we behave.

It is also related to a taboo we have built in most Mediterranean cultures, the taboo prohibiting harming someone for no reason, which in turn makes the weapon issue redundant. In some cultures such harm is not only not taboo, it is seen as an accepatble part of that process called "having a laugh".

[dinos]

Those who are so appalled and mouth off about yob culture and the need for harsh punishment regimes might just bear in mind that most rapes - a violent crime - occur between spouses/partners, are most likely committed by persons already known by the victim. Basically all the research suggests that the incidence of rape has not decreased but what has happened is that women - because the vast majority of victims of rape are women - who have been raped have no confidence in the criminal justice system.

The right thing to do, obviously, is to ban marriage. Because women need to be protected, the next step is to ban all friendships between men and women. Then, because men would just start raping each other, friendships between men would have to be banned as well. Because suicide is already illegal, we obviously would not have to worry about people killing themselves out of frustration with the above...

...I suppose you will be calling for a ban on kitchen knives / baseball bats / cars and even pairs of tights as they can all be used as instruments of death in the wrong hands.

Well, the Toronto school district already banned snowballs so someone is already moving in that direction.

Here - I have an idea. Because these crimes are committed by people, we should ban having babies! They're cute when they're young, but grow up to be yobs.

Hope all are well...

[dinos]

Banning weapons will not help..

On the news recently it showed that most of these youths get their guns imported from places like south africa etc.. (Can't remember the other 3 countries, sure eastern europe was mentioned..)

and that it would cost someone £50. to purchase a shotgun from these people..

£50!!

Now.. i don't know gun prices.. but to me £50 seems awfully cheap..

You can buy shotguns for as little as $85 here. We're not talking anything fancy; just a 12 gage, single shot. I've seen Italian 12 gage semi-autos (5 cartridge capacity max in US) for about $280. As with anything else, more quality = more money.

You're right, though - because obtaining guns on the black market is so easy, banning them just keeps them away from people that would not have used them to commit a crime in the first place.

The powers that be (and things are about the same in the US as in the UK) need to stop making people feel terrified to defend themselves. Even worse, someone can break into your house, trip & fall, and then turn around and sue you for negligence!

The bottom line is that certain crimes make money, albeit for the wrong people. When lawyers and criminals are no longer able to profit as much as they can from it, it will stop.

[Southerner]

The powers that be (and things are about the same in the US as in the UK) need to stop making people feel terrified to defend themselves. Even worse, someone can break into your house, trip & fall, and then turn around and sue you for negligence!

The bottom line is that certain crimes make money, albeit for the wrong people. When lawyers and criminals are no longer able to profit as much as they can from it, it will stop.

Criminals who've injured themselves on barbed wire have actualy sued ans won, a once very common sight in the Uk was broken glass on the tops of walls to deter intruders it is now illegal, who else but an intruder would be climbing the walls in the first place, my view is that once you've started breaking the law you lose the protection of it; and no I don't mean speeding in a car I mean criminal activities not civil crimes.

[CopperLine]

my view is that once you've started breaking the law you lose the protection of it; and no I don't mean speeding in a car I mean criminal activities not civil crimes

Maybe this is your view but it goes completely aganist the whole of modern English law (when I say modern, I mean even back to the Magna Carta). Not only that it goes completely against modern civil ('continental') law and modern international human rights law, to boot.

In the end, if you thought through what you've just proposed - that if you break the law you should lose the protection of the law - you'd pretty quickly find yourself arguing the opposite.

And speeding is not a civil offence in English law (and in Cyprus law too, I believe); it is a criminal offence.

[Nikitas]

The approach of modern legal systems is twofold- firstly to impose on the law abiding to treat vilators with "common humanity" , and secondly to deliberately keep the self defense rules rather murky. The final result is that the law abidind must sit there and suffer the consuquences of a crime, otherwise they will be prosecuted by the police (why not they are sitting targets) and often sued by the injured criminal. That is modern and forward thinking. Then people complain about high crime rates and yobbery!

Exceptions to the modern jurisprudence are states like Texas, Florida, Louisiana and perhaps others who have decreed that a citizen may use deadly force in self defence.

[Southerner]

And speeding is not a civil offence in English law (and in Cyprus law too, I believe); it is a criminal offence.

When I was due to join the army I had a court case for a motorcycling offence pending, I was assured by the police and the army that it would not affect my records in the army as it was a civil and not a criminal offence.

[raysue]

Bill,are you stupid or what?? i called for a life ban on owning or being in possession of a gun,and whether it is legal or illegal makes no difference! There are other things to do bill,apart from clay pigeon shooting. Life is not just about what Bill thinks. And before anyone says anything,i am not calling Bill stupid,just asking if he is. Its a fair question,i reckon! Right,i will leave it at that,for now......

[Nikitas]

Raysue,

As you wrote these lines a world target shooting championship is going on in Cyprus, where you live I assume.

Target shooting is a legitimate sport proven to be safer than any other sport- not a single injury or fatality in any event, ever. If you recall a couple of months ago we had the serious injury of a referee by a javelin.

In insurance actuary terms, shooting is safer than going to church, check it with your insurance agent if you want.

Finally, ALL sports are based on idealisation of warlike acts- shot put, hammer throw, fencing, show jumping, dressage, football, etc. Shooting is no different.

So now let me ask you

Are you stupid or something? Or just a puritan that likes to stop things that other people find fun and entertaining?

Nikitas

[Southerner]

A very interesting point was raised this morning, teenagers are starting to drink alcohol earlier, but one thing that we have actualy experienced ourselves is the reacation to certain food additives in sweets and food popular with young people, our Grandchildren react in an annoying/alarming manner when eating certain foods/sweets; blue smarties being a classic example, our Grandaughter brought this to our attention by sudden hyperactive behaveour after eating samrties etc when they contained certain 'E' numbers.
Alcohol coupled with the junk food that contains these additives is a recipe for bad behaveour, so maybe we should be looking at root causes as well.
Most modern convenience foods contain this junk and let's face it that is what so many young people are fed on these days.