Another quote of the day

"It is as if we are an over generous doting Father who can never say no to his spoilt, ungrateful child. We allow rights to those who mock our own."

From the comments to a Times opinion piece arguing for the legalisation of firearms for law-abiding citizens. Worth a read, and a trawl through the comments. There are a few Weenies from the USA in there, and few non-Weenies from this side of the pond. A snippet:

We are so self-congratulatory about our officially disarmed society, and so dismissive of colonial rednecks, that we have forgotten that within living memory British citizens could buy any gun – rifle, pistol, or machinegun – without any licence. When Dr Watson walked the streets of London with a revolver in his pocket, he was a perfectly ordinary Victorian or Edwardian. Charlotte Brontë recalled that her curate father fastened his watch and pocketed his pistol every morning when he got dressed; Beatrix Potter remarked on a Yorkshire country hotel where only one of the eight or nine guests was not carrying a revolver; in 1909, policemen in Tottenham borrowed at least four pistols from passers-by (and were joined by other armed citizens) when they set off in pursuit of two anarchists unwise enough to attempt an armed robbery. We now are shocked that so many ordinary people should have been carrying guns in the street; the Edwardians were shocked rather by the idea of an armed robbery.