Little help here

[Talon]

Hi folks. I'm new here, but I am pretty impressed with the level of intelligence and knowledge that I've found at the High Road. I'm looking forward to getting more involved here, but at the present, I was wondering if I could call in the cavalry in dealing with a few hippies.

I have been a part of several other forum communities off and on, and one of them is owned and operated by a person who I consider a friend, but has the most backward ideas I've ever seen. Please, if you wouldn't mind, stop in here and help me out with some of the hot topics that have come up. I feel like a lone torch in there.

http://www.moonworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?act=idx

Current Topic of Interest: Gun Rights in the UK

Any contributions would be much appreciated, but if you're one to get pissed off easily, don't torture yourself. These people need to be calmly reasoned with.

 

[Talon]

Maybe? or not.

 

[bcbr]

Howdy

Welcome to The High Road.
Leary of jumpin into anuther heavy disc,esp one I know very little about.
I consider the Rights I enjoy to be God given,and since I am better than no one else,it only follows that they enjoy and benifit from them as well.
I am fairly absorbed with the local,state ,and National stuff in the USA.
Hope the best for the British folks as a whole.
Might git around to reading a liitle bit on the subject.

 

[Talon]

Yeah, I know what you mean. The thing about it is, the topics being discussed are your basic fear of guns and misunderstandings concerning them and the people who use them. Oh well. It might serve as some entertainment anyway.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Welcome!

Well, Talon, welcome to THIS forum anyhow! People here are pretty rational in my experience.

 

[Talon]

Thanks. I'm enjoying it so far. My friend corncob introduced me to the site a week or so ago. I imagine I'll be around for a while.

 

[Jim K]

First it helps to understand that the UK has no written constitution. The so-called "constitution" is comprised of all the laws, edicts, orders in council, custom, and a whole bunch of other things. There is no balance of powers; Commons basically passes laws, which Lords MUST approve and the Queen MUST sign, no choice; no court can declare a law unconstitutional or void it. The "executive" (the PM and the cabinet) are members of Commons. Once a party has full power (an absolute majority in the Commons), its leader becomes PM with near dictatorial powers.

Nor is there restraint from dissenting members of the majority party. There are no primary elections; the party leadership chooses every candidate, so there are no dissenting members. On issues important to the party, the party orders its members to vote its way (a "three line whip"); a member who fails to do so will never be chosen to run ("stand") for Parliament again.

So, any "rights" a British subject (not citizen) has are graciously granted by a rubber-stamp monarch dictated to by the PM. Freedom of the press is an illusion; the government of the day, through the "independent" press board, can declare any subject off limits and prevent publication of articles about it. Independent TV has more leeway, but not much. The government can, and does, stop publication of books it does not want printed.

Even religious freedom is often in question, and I am not talking about militant Islam. A year or so ago, when a Catholic cathedral was being repaired, the bishop led a procession out of the building and around on a public sidewalk to go in another door. The procession was pelted with tomatoes and eggs while the police stood by and laughed.

Jim