Really! . . . OK, maybe just sort of:
London police will be especially over-stretched next week when up to 4,000 officers are expected to be deployed at an arms fair in east London.
The biennial fair, Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEi), has cost the Metropolitan Police over £4 million on each of the last two occasions it has been held. Assistant Commissioner Steve House said in 2005 that DSEi was “denuding London of policing at a time of unprecedented demand”.
DSEi will take place at the Excel Centre from Tuesday 11th - Friday 14th September, with over 1,200 companies expected to promote weaponry from handguns to fighter jets.
This “news story” is already overloaded with gripes against the fair in just the first two paragraphs. You won’t be surprised that the rest of the article carries on in the same tone, cataloging the complaints of an anti-arms group.
I suppose that they would prefer the British military to arm themselves with feather-dusters and patrol the skies with hot-air balloons.
Update: So, (thanks to reader cbg1) I guess they do!:
Meantime, London is defenseless:
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) spokesperson Symon Hill said: “The public will be sickened to hear that instead of tackling gun crime the police will be guarding gunrunners. This exposes the real nature of the arms trade. As well as fuelling war around the world, it is a threat to our security and a drain on our economy.”
Of course, if law abiding citizens were allowed to defend themselves in England, the sacking of London might be averted.
21 Responses to “A Gun Show in England!”
on 03 Sep 2007 at 10:31 am # kcom
Why does it take 4,000 police officers to police an arms fair? Or any kind of convention full of middle aged corporate types. Seriously. What kind of trouble are they expecting? Do they think someone is going to take a tank out for a spin through the streets of London? The whole thing sounds sort of bogus.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 10:35 am # Letalis
Of course, it is bogus. Nearly everything about law enforcement in the UK is bogus.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 10:37 am # Affe
Given the reports I’ve read indicating that London police tend to be useful for little more than writing up after-the-fact paperwork these days, I don’t see the big deal.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 10:40 am # Jeffersonian
What a ridiculous overreaction to a non-threat. Paranoia about guns has hit an apex in Albion.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 10:47 am # Peg C.
Mental amusement…comparing the UK to Texas. No wonder we’re robust and the UK is just bust.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:03 am # Robert
BWWWAAAAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:23 am # JeanE
I have lived in Dallas, Texas for many years, and there are gun shows here all the time- in fact there are 2 this month. I don’t ever recall hearing about the strain on the police forces when there is a gun show in town. Unless they are concerned about a terrorist attack associated with the gun and weapons show, 4000 officers seems absurd.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:25 am # AntiCitizenOne
It cost a lot more to police the Notting Hill in Carnival in London, and I bet there are many more rounds fired at that event (due to the mainly black gangs).
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23409964-details/Shootings+mar+end+of+Notting+Hill+Carnival/article.do
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:37 am # cire
I think that any large number of police would be used for controlling the (non-violent, of course) demonstrators, just like the G-8 conferences.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:46 am # Richard
The policing is to protect the weapons fair from the protestors, not to protect people from the guns. That will not surprise those from the USA, even if the article implies otherwise, as you will know that most people who are involved with firearms are responsible.
What disgusts me is the way that a report that presumably is intended to be taken seriously simply accepts the assertions of the CAAT, and especially their claim to speak for me. They don’t speak for me. Most of the rest of the population are completely ignorant of weaponry and most of those would probably support the fair if given impartial information.
I am not ignorant of weapons - unlike most Brits I have fired several, although it was never a particular hobby. Ignorance is one of the greatest problems in UK gun crime, and information is actively suppressed by groups like CAAT.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:52 am # Joan of Argghh!
4,000 billy clubs to police an arms fair?
Hardly seems…fair.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 11:55 am # Kevin
Jeeez lord, if all the cops are at the gun show, who’s going to be driving around with electronics surveillance equipment, fining citizens who own (*gasp*) unlicensed television sets? (another thing Texans might not quite comprehend…)
on 03 Sep 2007 at 12:46 pm # Carl H.
Any time anyone discusses the latest lunacy from the UK I can’t help thinking about the 1985 movie BRAZIL.
Harry Tuttle: Bloody paperwork. Huh!
Sam Lowry: I suppose one has to expect a certain amount.
Harry Tuttle: Why? I came into this game for the action, the excitement. Go anywhere, travel light, get in, get out, wherever there’s trouble, a man alone. Now they got the whole country sectioned off, you can’t make a move without a form…Listen, this old system of yours could be on fire and I couldn’t even turn on the kitchen tap without filling out a 27b/6… Bloody paperwork.
Sam Lowry: Excuse me, Dawson, can you put me through to Mr. Helpmann’s office?
Dawson: I’m afraid I can’t sir. You have to go through the proper channels.
Sam Lowry: And you can’t tell me what the proper channels are, because that’s classified information?
Dawson: I’m glad to see the Ministry’s continuing its tradition of recruiting the brightest and best, sir.
Sam Lowry: Thank you, Dawson.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 1:11 pm # R
This is unbelievably gay. I love Texas!
We have multiple gun shows almost every month - its pretty much a non-event every time. We’re not under camera surveillance 24/7 and we sure don’t subsidize the BBC.
We don’t even have to recycle beer bottles here (don’t you love how the lefties think we’re running out of glass, or aluminum or paper) - they go in the trash can along with everything else!
on 03 Sep 2007 at 1:21 pm # Jimmy Gee
I’m moving to Texas!
Living in “Severely Dysfunctional Republic of Wisconsin”
P.S: I still don’t like the notion that something in my back yard can kill me though…
on 03 Sep 2007 at 2:01 pm # Daniel
Sounds like the beginning of a joke …
How many London policemen does it take to guard an arms fair?
The punchline - no one likes the answer.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 4:00 pm # D
so really, the 4000 officers are there to protect the PROTESTERS, because after all, I think the gun faire is likely to be able to protect itself…
Which means that all the outrage about how many officers should be directed… back at the CAAT group. Funny how that works. It will be grimly amusing if any of those CAAT protesters gets robbed by someone with a gun… because the criminal knows that the protester won’t be carrying one… I just hope they don’t get hurt.
on 03 Sep 2007 at 5:57 pm # M. Simon
Black Gangs?
I was under the impression that coal fired ships were out of vogue.
on 04 Sep 2007 at 1:12 pm # Rorschach
The pic is a nice reminder that in William Wallace’s day, the Scots were not allowed to own swords, spears, or bows and arrows, so the Highland Games evolved to train warriors in things that the Brits could not ban, such as rocks… a Weapon is whatever your cunning mind choses to make it from. The real weapon is in the mind of the warrior, not the objects at hand. A Rock, an Axe, A Baseball Bat, A Candlestick, A Steak Knife, a Bottle of Gasoline and a rag, Anything can be a deadly weapon in the hands of someone willing to make it such.
on 04 Sep 2007 at 5:40 pm # Linoge
Out of curiosity (mainly stemming from being proudly non-British), are Bobbies even armed these days? If not, what business does an unarmed individual have guarding an arms show?
As a slight corrolary to the question, are arms shows in Britain sufficiently different than those in America, in that Britain allows loaded, unsafed, and unquick-tied firearms/suchlike at the show? Granted, it would not be impossible for me to grab a gun at an American gun show, cut its zip-tie, find some rounds and a magazine, load it up, and cause a ruckus… but it would not be the easiest thing in the world. And I think I might be noticed. Maybe if I hid under the tables…
on 06 Sep 2007 at 7:37 am # geordie
As a Briton born and bred i do envy the U.S.A’s citizens right to bear arms.I do own fire arms but they are lisenced by our nanny state govt.
What i don’t envy about the U.S.A. is the apparent poor state of your education system it would appear some of you can’t tell the difference between an arms fair selling fighter jets to some very dodgy govts. and a local weapons fair,EVEN AFTER THIS HAS BEEN POINTED OUT TO THEM!