Opinion
Another week, another set of stories chronicling the sad demise of individual rights in the United Kingdom, where gardeners with pruning tools are treated like dangerous criminals and insulting crooks who plunder your store attracts more police attention than the thieves themselves.
This is what an English-speaking culture without a right to arms or self-defense looks like, a cringeworthy nanny culture that treats normal adults like children and shrinks from the challenge of confronting real lawlessness.
In late July, U.K. news outlet the Guardian published an article titled, “Man carrying home his gardening tools arrested by armed police in Manchester.” The item recounted the story of 35-year-old theatre technical manager Samuel Rowe, who was arrested while trimming hedges with a gardening tool outside his home in Manchester. Rowe had just come back home from a gardening allotment with his tools, along with a basket of vegetables.
According to the piece, the specific tools at issue were a Niwaki Hori Hori gardening trowel and an Ice Bear Japanese gardener’s sickle.
Recalling the moment police showed up at his doorstep, Rowe told the paper, “I just heard shouting behind me, and then two armed officers shouting at me to drop the knife… And then they turned me around, pushed me up against my house, cuffed me, and then they arrested me, put me in the back of the van.”
Rowe was then taken to the police station and interrogated. The article stated that Rowe “was interviewed without legal representation as officers had been unable to reach a solicitor, and after spending several hours in custody he said he accepted a caution so he would be released.” A BBC article on the incident reported that Rowe said he was held for 12 hours.
In the U.K., a “caution” is something a person receives after admitting to an offense. According to the U.K. government, a caution is not a criminal conviction but remains on a person’s record and “could be used as evidence of bad character if you go to court for another crime.”
Rowe is now seeking to remove the caution from his record, concerned that the mark could imperil his career prospects. Moreover, the BBC reported that Rowe is “now scared to continue with what had been a lifelong hobby.”
As Vice President JD Vance and the U.S. State Department have pointed out, the U.K. does not have meaningful freedom of speech. Still, just what type of speech the police will waste their time on is truly shocking.
Following several shoplifting incidents, Rob Davies, owner of Run Ragged vintage shop in Wrexham, posted a sign explaining why he was forced to put some of his merchandise out of customer reach. Specifically, the sign told shoppers “Due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open cabinets. Thank you.”
Evidently, referring to criminals as “scumbags” is suspect on Airstrip One. According to an item from the Daily Mail, “police told [Davies] to change his sign calling shoplifters ‘scumbags’ because it may be offensive.” Davies refused to alter the language and has since printed further signs.
The shopkeeper has good reason to be frustrated. According to the article, “the hard-working retailer put [the sign] up after he caught five thieves red-handed in the last 12 months alone… He felt the police did little to help when he reported the five thefts and so he gave up doing so.” A BBC item on the incident noted, “Official figures released in July show shoplifting in Wales and England is at its highest level since current records began more than two decades ago.”
With the U.K. government finding new, petty, and bizarre ways to oppress its subjects, Americans should work to reaffirm our commitment to individual liberty, lest we end up going down the same dark path.
About NRA-ILA:
Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the “lobbying” arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess, and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Visit: www.nra.org
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Anyone want to take bets, on how long before they arrest a grandma on her front porch, in a rocking chair, with a pair of knitting needles?
people that gave up their guns now are targets for goobers
all the more reason to have machine guns
From his picture alone I can tell that he’s a “fairly dangerous man.” I’m sure that he’s quite adept at battling wild Dandylions and Snapdragons. Who knows what carnage and mayhem would result if he was left to wander about vegetable gardens at will. He’s even gone so far as to wear a web belt, with a sheath for his hori hori!
Thank god that I’m an American.
UK government is constantly trying to commit suicide – they outlaw everything, arrest you for less than nothing and truthfully are begging for a citizen uprising to wipe them out, not as martyrs – but as traitors. Looking forward to hearing about the complete elimination of the UK government by the citizens in the very near future. The 80k soldiers the country has isn’t going to stop jack.
This sort of lunacy has been infecting the UK far longer than you might expect. I was in London in the mid-1980s and saw a sign on a subway wall demanding knife control. The image on the poster was of a kitchen knife.
I hope the UK locks them all up, this way when Putin comes to take it we can tell them “see, told you so“.
Is UK and France starting to repeat nazi germany? Sure seems like it.
Whale oil beef hooked!
f UK!
Article said some members of parliament want to ban all kitchen knives as they are too dangerous for the public to own. Cut your steak with a spoon. There are now knife turn in collection boxes in England. You must wrap paper around the knife and put it in a box and take it to the knife collection box. Now gang members have been breaking into the knife collection boxes and stealing the knives. In England, you no longer have the right of self defense. If some mugger is trying to rob you and you fight him off, you will… Read more »