The land of Hope and Glory, so averse to its subjects protecting themselves with firearms of their own, is getting things in order for all the attention, honor and financial windfall that comes with hosting the 2012 Olympic Summer Games. Part of all that preparation:Â stationing surface to air missile batteries around the capital. Londoners who don’t appreciate having high explosives and potential terrorist targets on their roofs are free to pound sand. And now ITN News has aired an example of the meticulous care and planning that’s gone into securing the Olympic environs . . .
The video shows stacks of shoulder-fired SAMs and other fixins piled in a residential area and left unattended while the squaddies take a break and pop off to their local for a pint or two.
When asked about the abandoned ordnance, all the Ministry of Defense could muster was a harrumph, a couple of snorts and the pathetically transparent story that what the reporter filmed were really dummies. Uh huh.
So let’s recap: individual Brits are far too irresponsible to be allowed to pack a heater so as to protect themselves and their families, but leaving weaponry capable of bringing down an airliner laying about on the lawn is acceptable SOP. Londoners will surely sleep better knowing Her Majesty’s finest are on the job. [h/t Bryan]
Well hey, we aren’t too far off – we’re the land of Hope and Change, after all!
In the name of improving American security and fairness when is BO going to authorize the stationing of troops and forcibly placing homeless strangers in people’s homes?
Well, according to MikeB, the Third Amendment is an anachronism, so any day now.
Yeah, I am surprised that we have NOT had the “quartering of troops” in homes yet. The Third amendment is the only one of the first 10 Amendments that the government has NOT violated yet.
Maybe the Democrats will come up with a “Mandatory Homeless Sheltering Bill”, requiring all homeowners and renters to accept three homeless persons as unpaid “temporary” residents in their homes and apartments. Hey, they aren’t troops, so that wouldn’t violate the Third Amendment, right? And the Fifth Amendment ban on taking property without compensation is outdated and ignored, right?
ACORN tried that approach, breaking into foreclosed properties. So did OWS. Not troops mind you, but gov beneficiaries just the same.
There’s an easy way around the Third Amendment. Use eminent domain to confiscate the property – under Kelo, that’s trivial – and “pay” with US Bonds, which will be worthless soon enough. Or go the California route and pay with IOUs.
Then, if you’re nice and say pretty please, we will let you stay in the property, as long as you maintain it for the benefit of the people about to get moved in on you.
Now that I reread the part about US Bonds vs IOUs, I realize that that’s a distinction without a difference.
How about BO outlawing same race/same ethnic group/same religious marriages in the name of equalizing and unifying all people from all backgrounds? Just imagine a law requiring all people to first of all get married and then to marry someone of a completely different background. Better yet, a government computer can match up couples based on national need. Lastly, the choice to procreate is finally and legally determined by government. This idea, imaginary for now, could make for a really horrifying science fiction novel or film.
It’s been done
The scifi bit or a real-life case?
“Better yet, a government computer can match up couples based on national need. Lastly, the choice to procreate is finally and legally determined by government.”
Sadly both real and sci-fi. versions have been done. China regulates who can have kids and how many, and both Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia conducted programs where people were matched up for marriage/breeding purposes. Might have been pre-computer, but the results were the same.
I wouldn’t worry about leaving a bunch of SAMs lying around. Since any member of the well-tamed populace of London would swoon away at the sight of a compact .380, I’m guessing that the thought of a SAM-in-hand would probably result in a myocardial infarction.
Excluding the militant Islamic factions currently inhabiting large parts of London, of course. What a wonderful, government-provided bonanza for an Olympic “protest moment” this little “oopsie” could have provided!
Nah, this is just their version of Fast and Furious. They figure that if terrorists nab the weapons, they can trace them back to their controllers.
It’s England. If the terrorists steal the unguarded missles the government will blame the civilian residents and then call for increased authority over the people.
And wasn’t that part of the motivation for Fast and Furious? Like I said, a strong parallel.
Things must be a bit different across the way there, I distinctly remember in osut.. Half the base being on lockdown over a missing m4 magazine. The us and britan dedicate resources to prevent the proliferation of manpads (man port. Air def. Systems) just to see one lying unsupervised in a hallway. Posting guards on platoon or squad weapons is pretty basic stuff. I’d hope that heads will roll over this đŸ™‚ and they deserve it.
Haha, leave a MANPAD unattended? Why not? Like an ar15 stock on your glock, why not? I remember half of ft.knox going on lockdown when I was in basic over a missing MAGAZINE ffs. Posting guards on platoon/squad weaponry is pretty basic stuff, that nco schould loose his stripes. And that is if they issued a manpad to an nco, I’d bet, or at least hope that due to the unique circumstances of deploying such a weapon in an urban area, they would at least have a qualified officer supervising each aa team. I gurantee that the troops haven’t had a chance to fire such a weapon on a real target as well.. They prolly have a simulator.. But sometimes you’re better off not handing out a weapon like that. Especially considing such targets could easily be handled by an aegis radar equipped destroyer, although I know not where they are holding this event.
I fail
Ban citizen owned firearms
leave missiles lying in the street
Oh Britain you so funny!
I got to thinking that a less honest person than me, seeing a pile of military gear neatly stacked and unattended would be quite tempted to walk off with a few bits under an arm. And I’m just talking about the backpacks, and the olive drab brief cases.
Imagine if you were the type of person who would do such a thing.. A manpad in london, at the olympics… A terrorists dream.. They wouldn’t even have to bother smuggling it in.. It would all be provided by her highness.. You’d think they’d have tighter controlls on such weapons…
The MOD said they were “dummies”…LOL. im sure they were. hahaha.