Police confiscate walking stick as a "weapon"

[JohnRich 4]

News:

Police confiscate walking stick from retired teacher, 78, because it is an 'offensive weapon'

They must have known he was a troublemaker the moment they saw him. With his white hair, wax jacket and glasses, 78-year-old Philip Clarkson Webb clearly ticked all the boxes any eagle-eyed policemen would mark as 'danger'.

And as he shuffled along the pavement towards them there was one thing above all they deemed to pose a threat - his walking stick.

The officers surrounded the retired classics teacher and informed him the 3ft wooden cane was an 'offensive weapon' and had to be confiscated.

Mr Clarkson Webb duly handed it over, but the farce did not end there. When he later went to collect it from his local police station with his police receipt, he was told it had been misplaced...

Source: Mail Online

[normiss 620]

He should file a report for theft.

[nerdgirl 0]

Los Angeles has ordinances restricting length (<3ft, iirc) and diameter of sticks or other objects.
Miami considered restrictions as well; don't know what was the outcome of that proposal.

VR/Marg

Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters.
Tibetan Buddhist saying

[warpedskydiver 0]

At least they all went home safe that night.

I mean what would we all be saying if he killed the entire town by clubbing them.

I am surprised the cops did not shoot him a few dozen times

[millertime24 8]

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I mean what would we all be saying if he killed the entire town by clubbing them.

Or worse, a group of baby seals.

Muff #5048

[AWL71 0]

Where has common sense gone? Are they going to confiscate cars next? I could do alot more damage with my car than a 3 foot walking stick.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[normiss 620]

Thank goodness it wasn't something more lethal.
Like a squeegee -
and at least this guy didn't have a busket
What a dangerous world we live in!

[BillyVance 34]

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At least they all went home safe that night.

I mean what would we all be saying if he killed the entire town by clubbing them.

I am surprised the cops did not shoot him a few dozen times

Or tazed the poor old bastard.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[christelsabine 1]

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At least they all went home safe that night.
....
I am surprised the cops did not shoot him a few dozen times

With what? These were British cops. In the US, the old man would have been dead within a second.

dudeist skydiver # 3105

[kallend 1,620]

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At least they all went home safe that night.
....
I am surprised the cops did not shoot him a few dozen times

With what? These were British cops. In the US, the old man would have been dead within a second.

It was a stick, not a wallet.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[birdlike 0]

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Los Angeles has ordinances restricting length (Miami considered restrictions as well; don't know what was the outcome of that proposal.

VR/Marg

You're a smart girl... Doesn't seeing this kind of thing, and the lunacy of it, just sour you on the whole "restrict-the-weapons, not-the-dangerous-people" mentality?

I mean, who can get behind knife laws, gun laws... when they see this being the result of that kind of mentality??

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire

[birdlike 0]

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Where has common sense gone? Are they going to confiscate cars next? I could do alot more damage with my car than a 3 foot walking stick.

Stop looking for sense from the kinds of people who think that crime will be fought by going after the tools. Or in this case, the "NOT-the-tools"--because who equates a fucking walking stick with an "offensive weapon"?!

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire

[birdlike 0]

Holy fucking shit.
Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons" and I presume that they mean to support the idea of not letting people have them.

Holy fucking shit.

You know what I have to say to that?
"Steak knives are dangerous weapons."
No one should be allowed to have them, either.


Why would it be wrong for me to call the people who believe this idiocy nasty names?!?!

Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire

[jakee 1,254]

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Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons" and I presume that they mean to support the idea of not letting people have them.

Why would you presume that?

I'm sure you would agree that guns are dangerous weapons, but you also support people's right to own them. A half brick in a sock is a dangerous weapon, but I'm not going to rid my house of both bricks and socks.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[AggieDave 6]

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Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons" and I presume that they mean to support the idea of not letting people have them.

.


They *can* be a dangerous weapon. I've been in martial arts for 15 years and have studied how to use the short staff. Its basically a walking stick and is a serious weapon; however, a walking stick is still just a walking stick.

I do wonder what the totality of the situation was from this little news snippet. The history of the individual contacted, his mental state, what events had occurred leading up to his contact with a police officer. Those are all important details that are typically left out of a news report.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Skyrad 0]

So much for England banning pointy sticks! We've gone one better and have banned blunt ones instead. This is great news, one could not walk the streets without fear of club wielding geriatric hooligans. Now maybe young people will stop carrying knifes out of fear. This is great news...REJOICE! REJOICE!

When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

[SimonBones 1]

I thought it was funny when the UK banned samurai swords. That pesky highlander was running around chopping peoples heads off! There can be only one!

108 way head down world record!!!
http://www.simonbones.com
Hit me up on Facebook

[JohnRich 4]

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Holy fucking shit. Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons"

To paraphrase kallend:
"There are too many loonies with opinions."

Using sarcasm:
I think the police should confiscate wheelchairs too. There's no telling how many knives and guns those crippled people might be hiding under their seats. Let them drag themselves home by their fingernails.

[JohnRich 4]

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I do wonder what the totality of the situation was from this little news snippet. The history of the individual contacted, his mental state, what events had occurred leading up to his contact with a police officer. Those are all important details that are typically left out of a news report.

This news report gave those details. He was just a 78-year-old man who needed his cane to get around. And he just happened to have business in an area where protests where scheduled to occur. So an overzealous policeman thought that he might be a protester out to beat people with his cane. Yeah, right... They really should use more common sense then that.

[Andy9o8 0]

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I thought it was funny when the UK banned samurai swords. That pesky highlander was running around chopping peoples heads off! There can be only one!

I loved that show.

Remember when the Duncan MacLeod's friend, the Watcher, would sometimes shoot Duncan to "death" as a way to temporarily immobilize him. Then he'd wake up, of course.

Imagine a family of Immortals: "Mommy, I wanna use the skateboard, but Billy keeps blowing my fucking brains out! Make him STOP!!!"

[Andy9o8 0]

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Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons" and I presume that they mean to support the idea of not letting people have them.

.


They *can* be a dangerous weapon. I've been in martial arts for 15 years and have studied how to use the short staff. Its basically a walking stick and is a serious weapon; however, a walking stick is still just a walking stick.

I do wonder what the totality of the situation was from this little news snippet. The history of the individual contacted, his mental state, what events had occurred leading up to his contact with a police officer. Those are all important details that are typically left out of a news report.

Exactly. Most states in the US have criminal statutes prohibiting "possession of an offensive weapon", "possession of the instrument of a crime", etc. As often as not, the impliment in question is a fairly ordinary object not originally designed to be a weapon, or burglar tool; for example, a hammer (bash yer brains out), a walking stick (see hammer), a screwdriver (common burglar tool). The illegality, or lack thereof, of the items is very fact-specific and depends very much on case-by-case context. Facts can be ambiguous, and thus must be decided by judges and juries. Loads and loads of misdemeanor criminal trials arising from just this kind of case are conducted throughout the US all the time.

Re: the 78 year old man walking in an area of anticipated protests: Well, my Dad's about that age now. I remember when I was a kid I was walking downtown with Dad past where a Vietnam War protest was taking place. One of the protestors tried to block our path on the sidewalk. Dad, a Marine vet, took none of that shit, and put that guy flat on the ground with one thump. Uh...nobody else touched us. Think Dad wouldn't do the same thing today? What do you think?

[kallend 1,620]

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Holy fucking shit. Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons"

To paraphrase kallend:
"There are too many loonies with opinions."

I'm finding it hard to remember the last time a loonie armed with a walking stick killed 32 people in the USA. Maybe you'll provide a link.

Loonies with guns, OTOH

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Andy9o8 0]

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Holy fucking shit.
Nine people so far have answered, "Walking sticks are dangerous weapons"

It's now 14 to 14 as of this writing. Nyeah, nyeah.

[JohnRich 4]

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I'm finding it hard to remember the last time a loonie armed with a walking stick killed...

So then, just like rocket motors, the police shouldn't be worried about them, when in the hands of old men, right? After all, if you don't consider rocket motors to be a weapon, then you certainly shouldn't consider a stick to be a weapon.

[AggieDave 6]

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This news report gave those details.

As someone who has seen both sides of news reports, you should know better!

Maybe the officers did something outrageous, maybe they didn't. I do know, though, that just like skydiving reports, the media typically report arrests and other incidents incorrectly. That's even after being given proper and correct information.

Basically, over the last ten years I have lost what little respect and faith I had in the media.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."