An SAS Soldier who kept a pistol from Falklands War as a trophy gets 15 months in prison - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Morgen;50146607]Why is the law unseasonable in a country with heavily regulated firearms?[/QUOTE] Because they believe those regulations to be unreasonable, perhaps?

[QUOTE=Morgen;50146607]Why is the law unseasonable in a country with heavily regulated firearms?[/QUOTE] Because the UK's laws are unreasonably strict even compared to other western european countries.

Your laws are draconian when your Olympic shooting team has to train in France.

[QUOTE=Morgen;50146607]Why is the law unseasonable in a country with heavily regulated firearms?[/QUOTE] Because it was in his attic and only found due to a completely unrelated issue. It wasn't like he was using it

oh no someone has a gun the world is going to END even though he never USES IT

I don't really get why 177 rounds is a big deal, what is he gonna do shoot up a mall with his pea shooter and reload it 20 times? Couldn't they just like confiscate his guns and sentence him to community service and a fine? What does putting him in jail serve

[QUOTE=geel9;50147126]oh no someone has a gun[/QUOTE] :speechless: sarcasm has to have a point before you use it.

[QUOTE=Saxon;50147127]I don't really get why 177 rounds is a big deal, what is he gonna do shoot up a mall with his pea shooter and reload it 20 times? Couldn't they just like confiscate his guns and sentence him to community service and a fine? What does putting him in jail serve[/QUOTE] Brits have no idea about guns let alone ammunition. 177 sounds like a lot but like someone else said, that's only a few small boxes. He's an SAS soldier, wouldn't he be the one you would trust to have a firearm in his house?

[QUOTE=JCDentonUNATCO;50147362]Brits have no idea about guns let alone ammunition. 177 sounds like a lot but like someone else said, that's only a few small boxes. He's an SAS soldier, wouldn't he be the one you would trust to have a firearm in his house?[/QUOTE] It's the same here in Australia. Some politicians have called for bans on how much ammo you could buy. The limits they suggested were ludicrously low and shows they have no clue.

15 months seems lenient.

[QUOTE=simkas;50145560]He had an illegal gun so I don't see how this is wrong or anything in any way? If he actually was only keeping it in order to remember his friends, he wouldn't have kept it with 177 fucking rounds for it.[/QUOTE] do you think 177 rounds is a lot of ammo? that's less than 2 boxes and at a firing range can be burned through in 20 minutes or less. I routinely shoot 500+ rounds per trip

[QUOTE=doommarine23;50145748]People like hexpunK forget that the law is not a merciless wordless monster. [B]We use the law as guidelines.[/B] How many of you forget about shit like lawyers? People getting cases reduced from "voluntary" to "involuntary", all kinds of shit. He is not above the law, but the law is a tool and should be used accordingly. Give him a fine, perhaps take the guns away if you must, but I don't think over a year of prison service is right nor moral.[/QUOTE] No??? The law is the law, there's specifically defined instances for (in)voluntary crimes. I don't think you can involuntarily somehow own 177 rounds of ammunition. As other people have pointed out, you can't really give him leeway just because he's a former SAS member [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=butre;50147458]do you think 177 rounds is a lot of ammo? that's less than 2 boxes and at a firing range can be burned through in 20 minutes or less. I routinely shoot 500+ rounds per trip[/QUOTE] doesn't matter, why would he have ammo in the first place if it was a keepsake?

[QUOTE=ashxu;50147464]No??? The law is the law, there's specifically defined instances for (in)voluntary crimes. I don't think you can involuntarily somehow own 177 rounds of ammunition. As other people have pointed out, you can't really give him leeway just because he's a former SAS member [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] doesn't matter, why would he have ammo in the first place if it was a keepsake?[/QUOTE] Because hes a soldier and probably knows its wise to keep ammo -somwhere-. Its not legal, sure, but i can hardly blame the guy for keeping a miniscule amount of ammunition alongside his firearm. Take the ammo, make him register the gun. Hes not even kind of a threat

[QUOTE=ashxu;50147464]No??? The law is the law, there's specifically defined instances for (in)voluntary crimes. I don't think you can involuntarily somehow own 177 rounds of ammunition. As other people have pointed out, you can't really give him leeway just because he's a former SAS member [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] doesn't matter, why would he have ammo in the first place if it was a keepsake?[/QUOTE] what's wrong with keeping the consumables that make a keepsake work? a few boxes was probably just part of the display he had going.

[QUOTE=Cinnamonbun;50145859]My next door neighbor has a car with a V8 engine, it is a threat to public safety because he COULD go much more faster than other cars on the highway and crash and kill himself and another driver. My next door neighbor also has pressure cooker, he COULD go crazy and blow up a building.[/QUOTE] yeah well the thing is guns are designed to kill

[QUOTE=butre;50147617]what's wrong with keeping the consumables that make a keepsake work? a few boxes was probably just part of the display he had going.[/QUOTE] the display stashed away in his attic? there'd be zero problems if his ammo was inert but it's actual live ammo and that's a big no no here and then there's the expanding rounds, he doesn't really have an excuse

[QUOTE=geel9;50147126]oh no someone has a gun the world is going to END even though he never USES IT[/QUOTE] What's up with the ammo then

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;50145685]If the British do it anything like us Americans, captured weapons are supposed to be destroyed on the spot, not kept as souvenirs. This guy's a shitbag. If he wanted something to remember his dead comrades by, he could have easily commissioned a plaque or something. This wasn't World War Two, when everyone and their Grandmother was coming home with captured Lugers and MP-40s. Lock his ass up.[/QUOTE] Get off your high horse. Guy wasn't a threat to public safety and the fact he's been jailed is moronic. Now sure, confiscate the weapon or something but jailtime isn't going to serve the public interest so fuck snyone who thinks it's necessary.

[QUOTE=Broseph_;50146829]Because it was in his attic and only found due to a completely unrelated issue. It wasn't like he was using it[/QUOTE] He's also accused of stealing from his wife. If that turns out to be true then this could of very easily escalated to armed robbery in the future.

I literally do no get your fascination with the ammo. So what? Amazing, he wanted to occasionally shoot the keepsake.

[QUOTE=Psychokitten;50145685]If the British do it anything like us Americans, captured weapons are supposed to be destroyed on the spot, not kept as souvenirs. This guy's a shitbag. If he wanted something to remember his dead comrades by, he could have easily commissioned a plaque or something. This wasn't World War Two, when everyone and their Grandmother was coming home with captured Lugers and MP-40s. Lock his ass up.[/QUOTE] I know that US soldiers do have a habbit of sneaking trophies back home though. I don't think it was any different with this guy, I doubt the Brits are like "take whatever you can carry lads!"

[QUOTE=download;50148241]I literally do no get your fascination with the ammo. So what? Amazing, he wanted to occasionally shoot the keepsake.[/QUOTE] But he claims he never did. So if he never wanted to shoot it then why keep the ammo?

[QUOTE=GordonZombie;50148228]Get off your high horse. Guy wasn't a threat to public safety and the fact he's been jailed is moronic. Now sure, confiscate the weapon or something but jailtime isn't going to serve the public interest so fuck snyone who thinks it's necessary.[/QUOTE] Him having a illegal firearm and a bunch of ammo for it makes him a threat to public safety. The UK has gun laws for a reason, just because someone thinks he's not a threat to public safety because he broke a law, doesn't make it so in the eyes of the law. If he wanted to keep the gun for the reason he said he did, he had plenty of opportunity to make it not be illegal.

I feel like this guy's intention to keep the gun as a trophy was genuine, but maybe that's just me. [QUOTE=butre;50147458]do you think 177 rounds is a lot of ammo? that's less than 2 boxes and at a firing range can be burned through in 20 minutes or less. I routinely shoot 500+ rounds per trip[/QUOTE] not saying that the person in question was gonna go on a shooting spree or something but man it just takes a bullet or two to incapacitate a person. not every place is like america where guns are treated like toys

The sentence and laws behind it are total bullshit. Thank god we will never have these shitty laws here. [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] and no, your laws aren't going to save any lives here. Like you guys said, our gun cultures are vastly different.

[QUOTE=Megadave;50148557]The sentence and laws behind it are total bullshit. Thank god we will never have these shitty laws here. [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] and no, your laws aren't going to save any lives here. Like you guys said, our gun cultures are vastly different.[/QUOTE] shitty laws that protect thousands of people from gun violence every year lol

[QUOTE=ThatSprite;50145551]what are gun licenses [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] it is legal to own pistols here iirc, you have to apply for it through a pretty strict process[/QUOTE] [url]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/512840/Guidance_on_Firearms_Licensing_Law_April_2016_v20.pdf[/url] You can only legally own muzzle loading pistols. Semi-automatic pistols are illegal as they are easy to conceal and are not muzzle loaded.

[QUOTE=Megadave;50148557]The sentence and laws behind it are total bullshit. Thank god we will never have these shitty laws here. [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] and no, your laws aren't going to save any lives here. Like you guys said, our gun cultures are vastly different.[/QUOTE] Making guns really hard to get doesn't save any lives? That is the dumbest thing I've heard. Without the laws, anyone can go into a gun store, buy a gun and then proceed to kill people with it. With the laws, they can't do that. They'd have to get it through illegal means which is a whole lot harder and more expensive.

[QUOTE=simkas;50148712]Making guns really hard to get doesn't save any lives? That is the dumbest thing I've heard. Without the laws, anyone can go into a gun store, buy a gun and then proceed to kill people with it. With the laws, they can't do that. They'd have to get it through illegal means which is a whole lot harder and more expensive.[/QUOTE] I'm ok with making guns harder to get, but the problem I have is with making them nearly impossible to get without a full anal probe, and then putting these ridiculous punishments on people who most likely weren't going to murder anyone. and basing said ridiculous laws on guns simply because they look threatening. Some gun laws can save lives, but when you start sentencing people to months in prison for possessing some guns and ammo, you have to wonder if you are really doing anything to stop gun crime.

[QUOTE=Megadave;50148557]The sentence and laws behind it are total bullshit. Thank god we will never have these shitty laws here. [editline]17th April 2016[/editline] and no, your laws aren't going to save any lives here. Like you guys said, our gun cultures are vastly different.[/QUOTE] i'm glad you decided to go into a thread about a case in the united kingdom and talk about how it's bullshit because american gun culture is different