Real Life Fight

I hope not strangers...

 

What have I learned from my experiences with fighting?

That the bouncer kicks you out before you can pay the ******* back for throwing his drink in your face. And that once outside they usually have a whole gang behind them. One of the most important lessons I learned was that I should be thankful for being blessed with the ability to run faster than anyone.

Although I feel sorry for the people who are slow at running.

 

I have a couple of UK legal pocket knives, I have one with me most of the time and use it several time a day in one way or another, not expensive but not cheap either

what is most worrying is that I can buy a mass produced, 7 inch, razor sharp kitchen knife in one of the cheap shops that are sprouting up in the UK for £1

that is the sort of thing that will be used on someone and dumped

 

General statement is all what I was going for. We have very similar laws in PA.

 

Yes this is pretty much spot on. Underscoring this... my mates from the UK got a thing here where they thought they'd all carry knives. They promptly either cut themselves with them showing off or being complete tools about it or they lost them... or forgot to pack them and left them at home.

So yes... definitely it has to do with the way one is raised thinking about a knife. I think in the UK there is a much larger stigma attached to knives being carried than in the US because (I'm guessing) that knife crime is far more prevalent in the UK than in the US.

 

Depends on the part of the UK, I'm of the opinion that the strongest stigma regarding knives is within the towns and cities, and reduces as you move into more isolated areas, as isolated as the UK gets anyway. I can think of a number of things in my day to day life that would be easier with a knife, have nicked my fingers a number of times opening boxes and so on with scissors because, well, scissors aren't designed to do that.

 

I recently had a situation nearly go out of control on me maybe a few LEO's could give me some advice on what i did wrong.

I was driving to training in my car when i had to make a u turn back on myself i came to the roundabout up ahead it was a three entry small one and i put my indicator on to come all the way round unfortunatly the car coming out of the second exit misread my cars position and pulled out with out looking. we both pulled over and the other driver sat in the car and i sat in the car waiting.

i got out and walked over to the passenger side and realised it was a young girl and i figured oh ok young driver we have all been there cut her some slack and i probably will get the headlight repaired without going through the insurance.

i said something like "oh dont worry lets exchange details and i will be on my way" and she said "why were you going all the way round the roundabout?"

i thought well i am entitled to you give way to traffic already on the roundabout especially from the right hand side pretty clean cut.

so just as i am about to get back in my car a car pulls up and says to the girl are you alright? and its some friend of hers and then drives away, next a guy pulls up in car behind me and gets out i face him and he walks over and walks around me to the girl its her boyfriend and he turns to me and says "ok we need to sort this out!"
basically i could drive away at anytime but although i felt less safe due to the car and person walking past and the bf arriving i still didnt leave the scene.

so i say "go ahead" willing to listen to his offer which i assume is along hte lines of we will pay you cash and you dont claim idea. his side of the story, which the rapidly desends into a made up story about it being my fault basically saying to my face he will call the police i actually say ok call them all they will do is check we are both insured. he says no there is no need for that. he needs to protect her/ her insurance he saw me cut the roundabout that i look young and inexperinced pretty much acting very irationally trying to threaten or scare me into not claiming. and starts calling up a friend in insurance or the police to ask advice on what to do.

so i get in the car for a bit of protection and decide to leave the scene as i get in the car he is on the other side threatens me through the glass more about "you will be hearing from us"

I was personally shocked at how the safe situation as i had read it suddenly degenerated into a unsafe situation.

How would a LEO deal with a person who is acting threatening towards you.

The aftermath of this is my insurance company called it a 50/50 split because of the lies and lack of witnesses which is hugely unfair. and the third party are refusing to pay leading to a threat of legal action.

Their story is that i performed at speed a handbrake u turn in the space before the mini roundabout causing me to hit them.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

when did it happen?

Um not from the US ;' ) Funnily enough the knife thing is probably more a generational thing rather than a cultural thing. I know LOTS of British males who grew up with knives and thought nothing of it.. Seems like for too many things we have politicians deciding what we should feel about something these days.

FWIW

LFD

 

killings?

Funny my lad was mugged at ~ 17 by a guy with a 15 inch butcher knife that he had hidden in his jacket... knife laws did nothing to protect anyone and only prevented normal persons from using a common tool that had been part of the culture for centuries...

Just out of interest.. are there alot of young lads ''dying'' from knife attacks? I have rarely heard this in the last 16 years of living in the UK.

Really, I am interested because I would like to believe there is more to this stuff that publicity to make the governments look like they were actually doing something about crime..

FWIW

LFD

 

leatherman?

Interestingly enough I treat a number of LEO's and they tell me that people have been charged for having a Leatherman when out fishing! :'S. It's all illegal if the officer decides you are carrying an offensive weapon. Just depends on how they read the law where you are. I carried my french Langinole folding knife for eating that was given to me as a gift for that purpose. I stopped carrying it after I realised when driving out of Coventry one day that there was a sign saying all would be charged for possessing any knife.

Not to sound stupid or anything but I am convinced more often than not this is publicity masquerading as crime prevention in areas away from where major problems are already occurring.

FWIW

LFD

 

It is like good insurance verse bad insurance

 

Only fight when absolutely necessary and always on my own terms.

I've met lots of people who talk about it publicly. Some people make careers out of discussing the subject. I write a fair amount about my own experiences with violence, and I try to take those experiences into helping me write believable fiction.

I think there is a lot of truth in this statement. Also, like Moe was discussing, your brain doesn't finish developing until approximately 25-years-old. We all have overactive fear responses and impulsive tendencies in our formative years because of this.

Ah, but here lies the problem. That figure is based on an average for an entire population. Obviously your chances of being in a situation where you are targeted for violence are far less when you're very young or very old. Obviously some places in the UK are much more dangerous than others. And obviously the UK is probably a fairly safe country as a whole compared to many other places in the world.

I hope one day you outgrow this thinking. One day you might have someone depending on you who wouldn't appreciate your getting killed or maimed because of your ego.

Haha, truly brilliant.

I made it page 19... Christ this thread is massive. I give up for now.

 

true.

here's hoping.

 

A&E by me deal primarily with stabbings to the buttocks, the idea being to damage the rectum so that the victim will have to spend the rest of their life with a collostomy bag. That's gang on gang though, just happens the hospital is in the middle of a bit of a hotspot.
If I'm brutally honest, I'm much happier in a country with a culture of knife violence then a culture of gun violence. Much less risk to innocent bystanders, especially when none of the buggers can shoot straight! This is specifically referring to violence with the intent to harm, as opposed to threats and violence with the intent to profit (eg mugging), where it doesn't really matter what the weapon is, I reckon if they're armed I'll hand my wallet over.

 

So what?

Without restrictions on carrying knives, the problem would only escalate. If the thugs can carry knives with impunity then a lot of other people will feel they have to carry them too for protection, and so it escalates.

As things stand, tougher penalties for carrying knives mean that if somone gets caught by the police then they can expect a custodial sentance. Of course it doesn't mean that knife crime will suddenly stop, but it does mean that the police are in a position to do something about it.

Seriously, don't you watch the news or read newspapers? There have been loads over the last five years - especially in London.

I'm as cynical as the next man about politicians and their motives, but in this particular instance I think you are way off target. The government has to tackle the growing problem of knife crime.

 

When you outlaw knives only outlaws have knives

 

And the alternative is what exactly? That we all carry a knife in case we get attacked by someone with a knife? I bet the police would love that!

Every Saturday night would be like West Side Story, only with lots of drunks. And of course the elderly should carry the biggest, baddest knives, since they are more likley to be targetted by muggers.

In fact, why don't we just get rid of the police and give everyone a gun?