..Whats has this country come too!

[adamknox]

Erm, don't want to sound funny, but isn't pepper spray still illegal in the UK? So if you use pepper spray you could fall foul of firearm laws.

Lmao you know what, that never occurred to me. Although I don’t have the leaflet in front of me now . I’m pretty sure it does say “Don’t carry illegal weapons for protection like, Knifes , pepper spray, tasers, hammers..” So I guess… I don’t know. Lol

 

[Angilion]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wiltshire/4393804.stm

A story about someone acquitted on appeal on the grounds of reasonable force. No details of what happened.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/8454236.stm

A story about a man who stabbed someone to death and whose mother says was using reasonable force. He was arrested. Charges were later dropped. Even when you're trying to claim that the entire idea of UK law recognising reasonable force is a fallacy, you're actually proving that the UK has very strong reasonable force laws - this man stabbed two people, killing one of them, and it didn't even get to trial. The only reason it got as far as it did was because a witness was lying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7818230.stm

A case involving a teacher using force against a pupil. Obviously, this is going to be treated differently. "The sheriff said that if he wasn't in a school situation he wouldn't even have been charged."

He was acquitted on appeal on the grounds of reasonable force.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/7030089.stm

A case in which a man was acquitted on the grounds of reasonable force. The case got to trial because:

A CPS spokesperson added: "This was an allegation of assault by a man armed with a wooden pole against youths whom he believed had damaged his home. "We considered medical evidence and photographs of the injuries in making our decision that the case should go to court.
"There was no evidence to show the youths he caught had been involved in the incident or had committed any offence.

Malicious charges? No. He was acquitted, anyway.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7924834.stm

A person was threatened by another person and holed up with a gun instead of phoning the police. When the other person turned up, the first person shot them dead through a window.

He was acquitted on the grounds of reasonable force.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/3830251.stm

A man kept a modified harpoon gun as a weapon, essentially a crossbow. He shot someone in the face with it. They were blinded in one eye, but shooting someone in the face with a harpoon sure sounds like trying to kill them.

He was acquitted of GBH on the grounds of reasonable force.

He was acquitted of unlawfully possessing an offensive weapon too, no idea why.

Thanks for posting 6 examples of how the law in this country strongly supports the use of reasonable force even to the extreme case of deadly force.

Odd that you would change your mind so quickly and so extremely after saying that it was a fallacy that UK law included any idea of reasonable force at all.

 

[Angilion]

Is it wrong that I think all the incidents above were totally reasonable, assuming the information given was correct?

Sure, some were a little harsh, but at the end of the day nobody forces you to burgle someone's house, or stab another human being.

All of them were judged reasonable force, including the case in which someone deliberately shot someone else dead, waiting with a gun for them to arrive.

They were cited as "proof" that UK law doesn't allow for the concept of reasonable force at all, that it is a fallacy that it does so. I don't know why, as they prove the opposite.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

edit: nvm.

 

[bitslice]

pepper spray is illegal in the UK, so why are these NUS people suggesting it as a weapon?

edit:
sorry, pudney already pointed this out :/

 

[Tefal]

Thanks for posting 6 examples of how the law in this country strongly supports the use of reasonable force even to the extreme case of deadly force.

Odd that you would change your mind so quickly and so extremely after saying that it was a fallacy that UK law included any idea of reasonable force at all.

 

[Doughnut007]

"Shot in the face with a harpoon gun"

That sounds like a sketch...

 

[Fr0dders]

No it's not, you have all the right in the world to use reasonable force people have even stabbed and killed attackers and not been charged.

yes they are arrested after all you've just beaten/killed a guy it would be insane to let you off because you claim he attacked you first.

but once they know what happened if the force was reasonable you will be let off.

****ing daily mail readers.

exactly

Just because somebody pulls a knife on you doesnt give you a right to chase them down a street before beating them to death with your torch.

Its all about whats reasonable.

 

[scorza]

Force decided ultimately to have been reasonable. Where's the beef.

The beef was with vindictive prosecutions by the CPS. The guy should never have been charged in the first place, eventually we got to the point where it was deemed reasonable force but this was only after he'd already been convicted and sentenced. The man acted entirely reasonably and yet must have gone through months of absolute hell, probably lost his job - he's effectively been punished for acting within the law.

The only criteria whether CPS prosecute or not is if they think they can successfully convince a jury to convict (they get a bonus for this don't they?) They should be asking whether it's in the public interest to prosecute, in the vast majority of cases the answer would be no.

 

[Pookie Bear]

You can use reasonable force in self defence. You cant run after them dont the street bashing them with a torch.

But run the scene in your head and it makes for good comedic value alone

Ahhh Khaaan, I was already laughing by the time I got to your response

 

[~>Dg<~]

The collective IQ of this forum is dropping.

was it ever that hi ohhhh look what i done

funny as i watched a gun docu last night and it showed that in america the violent crimes went down and britains were three times higher with no guns. hmm whether bs or not i dont know . maybe it was made by smith and western

 

[Tefal]

was it ever that hi ohhhh look what i done

funny as i watched a gun docu last night and it showed that in america the violent crimes went down and britains were three times higher with no guns. hmm whether bs or not i dont know . maybe it was made by smith and western

fun graph from the us department of justice.

 

[~>Dg<~]

ah doom was the cause

 

[ellingham]

it's ridiculous