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Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

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Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#71

Post by DanBC »

sattoshi wrote: post #63
matthewmacleod wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is mince. Knives were banned because of an surge in knife crime. Guns have obviously been banned for an age. I suspect you have an ulterior motive.

I think he is highlighting that the problem is not the weapons but rather the people wielding them. These people will use the next best thing and the bans only really affect law abiding citizens.

gun murders per million people UK: 0.236 gun murders per million people US: 32.57

I dunno, that feels like it's working.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#72

Post by DanBC »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #47
tigershark wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a real threat. This kind of mugging crimes increased alarmingly especially in east London. Just reading the local newspapers you will find 5-6 such attacks each week. Do you have any source for your hypothesis?

It’s an incredibly rare threat and I doubt you have basis for 5-6 acid attacks per week in London.

It happens more than daily.

We need to remember that these are Met Police numbers, and they cover a region of over 8 million people.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#73

Post by ddxxdd »

DanBC wrote: post #71
sattoshi wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he is highlighting that the problem is not the weapons but rather the people wielding them. These people will use the next best thing and the bans only really affect law abiding citizens.

gun murders per million people UK: 0.236 gun murders per million people US: 32.57 I dunno, that feels like it's working.

I read a statistic stating that somewhere around 80% of the violent crime in America takes place in about 5% of the counties.

In other words, there are certain niche demographics in America that are pulling up those gun murder stats, and it's generally not a problem for most people who enjoy 2nd Amendment protections.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#74

Post by johnchristopher »

tombrossman wrote: post #19
cm2187 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. A violent reaction would be justified. It's like mugging someone with a fake gun. The victim has no way to tell whether the gun is fake or whether his life is at risk, and a violent reaction would be legitimate.

Just to clarify, a violent reaction (in self defence) might be justified. It's not automatic, and would have to be proportional. For example, it might be enough to simply grab the person and hold them down on the ground until the police arrive unless it quickly became obvious that it was just a harmless prank. If they sprayed you with something harmful, or decide to resist being detained then yes, it may be necessary…

> unless it quickly became obvious that it was just a harmless prank

It's not a harmless prank if the normal reaction is to hold the prankster down. Plus, you are relaxing, taking some downtime and some know-it-all-i-am-funny-oh-you-are-not-you-are-the-downer comes and stages an agression for fun. « It's a prank, bro. »

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#75

Post by JoeAltmaier »

ddxxdd wrote: post #73
DanBC wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gun murders per million people UK: 0.236 gun murders per million people US: 32.57 I dunno, that feels like it's working.

I read a statistic stating that somewhere around 80% of the violent crime in America takes place in about 5% of the counties. In other words, there are certain niche demographics in America that are pulling up those gun murder stats, and it's generally not a problem for most people who enjoy 2nd Amendment protections.

This article:

http://www.ofm.wa.gov/researchbriefs/2016/brief079.pdf

shows that 5 counties in the state of Washington account for almost all the state's violent crime.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#76

Post by carsongross »

dolevyao wrote: post #66
MichaelGG wrote: post #5

Odd/interesting that they don't mention motives. They give one example of using acid to commit a mugging. Yet[1] seems to state that acid attacks are mostly male-on-female violence for relationships/shame issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing#Epidemiology So it is a real threat to tourists? It's like when you hear about high crime in some area, but it's mostly gang members killing each other -- it's a s…

The top 3 London boroughs for acid attacks are ones with significantly large South Asian / Muslim communities. Source: https://youtu.be/oHFfzVVRCm4

Acid attacks are just part of living in a big city.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#77

Post by JoeAltmaier »

DanBC wrote: post #71
sattoshi wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he is highlighting that the problem is not the weapons but rather the people wielding them. These people will use the next best thing and the bans only really affect law abiding citizens.

gun murders per million people UK: 0.236 gun murders per million people US: 32.57 I dunno, that feels like it's working.

This chart

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm.htm

shows a wide variation among US states. Curiously, some of the states with the lowest stats have essentially no gun control. So its more complicated that it might seem.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#78

Post by toyg »

novalis78 wrote: post #16

Never heard of 'acid attacks' in my life (kid of the 80s, teen of the 90s) before reading about the beautiful culture of Pakistan (2001 and after). It seems London cloned its own mini-version. Horrific.

It happens in Italy as well, no pakistani required. It's just the new low-tech stealth attack weapon for the streets.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#79

Post by barrkel »

Brakenshire wrote: post #18
barrkel wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80% male, both perpetrators and victims: http://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk/news/crime-court/eas... At this point it's mostly gang on gang, and probably driven by anti-knife enforcement. Scooter riders snatching phones are a bigger threat to tourists. The two have been combined recently though, using scooter + acid to hijack and steal other scooters and bikes. This in turn is driven by police not chasing two whe…

Would have thought at that point it'd be worthwhilr putting GPS devices somewhere internal.

Behold: http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news-general-news/watch-...

Two disc locks, chain, alarm, GPS tracker - none of it is enough.

Re: Fears for tourists in London as acid attacks escalate in recent weeks

#80

Post by Symbiote »

rhapsodic wrote: post #58
Inconel wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the first time I've heard this kind of argument here on HN. It sounds an awfully lot like victim blaming and I'm unsure why you think it acceptable that certain people not be allowed into certain parts of a city. Also, as a South LA resident, LA doesn't really have an inner city, or at least it hasn't been the area traditionally known for high crime.

> Also, as a South LA resident, LA doesn't really have an inner city, or at least it hasn't been the area traditionally known for high crime. The phrase "inner city" is not geographical; it's a code phrase for a predominantly black neighborhood, or in some cases, a lower-income neighborhood.

Maybe in America, but in Britain it means the dense area surrounding the city centre. That can be wealthy, poor, or mixed.

In Britain, we might say "local authority", "council housing", "council estate", but I can't think of a euphemism.

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