Anton Coaker Blog
Member
Tragic Events
I can’t really duck out from mention of the tragic events in Plymouth last week. There’s not much more that can be said about sympathy we all feel for the families touched by this awful business…how could any of us imagine what it’s like to lose loved ones in such circumstances? We can’t, we can only acknowledge the depth of loss that those involved must feel.
I’m somewhat conflicted about the apparent business with the perpetrators shotgun licence. I’m surprised the law hadn’t previously picked up his apparent ‘issues’ from the social media posts being widely quoted. Whether they should go looking for such things upon an initial application is one thing. But when someone has a licence withdrawn or suspended subject to some problem, I would’ve imagined a closer look would’ve been taken before it and the gun was returned. Someone suggested to me it’s a privacy matter, but I’d presume you forfeit the right to a certain degree of such personal rights if you want to hold a firearm or shotgun. And while I can imagine some of us feeling a bit uncomfortable with the idea of someone painstakingly crawling through our entire on-line presence – which is sure to employ legions of extra staff- I would rather hope they’d recognise the difference between the puerile or distasteful, and the downright unsettling and deranged. I’m none too sure how it goes if someone deliberately covers their digital tracks, because that would be a very different task. And it’s a reasonable bet that someone with something to hide wouldthen do just that.
I don’t know. It’s easy in hindsight. I have no small degree of empathy for one or two individuals who must’ve been responsible for taking the critical decisions in respect of this case. They may very well have been following the guidelines to the letter, but will undoubtedly have to carry a very heavy burden for ever more now.
And then, of course, the wide and varied lobby working against private gun ownership will pile in on the actions of one evidently very sick man, to further their cause. I live and work in an environment where firearms and shotguns are often simply tools of the trade of various professionals. When- as can happen- a cow breaks a leg out on the rough, or a rogue fox develops a taste for my newborn lambs, I need someone to be able to despatch each with efficiency and surety. And the law already have a strict overview into, and control of, who possesses and carries what weapons- current mistakes notwithstanding. So I’m hesitant to see the kneejerk reaction that will inevitably be called for.
Ironically, some operatives within the forces of law and order privately concede that there are large numbers of illegal firearms in circulation in urban centres. By definition the owners of these don’t have to go through much of a screening process or background checks. But this tragedy involved a legally held weapon, so that is where the focus will surely settle.
Another aspect that will undoubtedly come under scrutiny is the on-line community this man seems to have been involved in. I’ve considered for some time that the internet and social media platforms have changed the nature of human interaction in ways we’ve hardly grasped yet. Like the anti-vaxxers, animal rights loons or climate change deniers, all kinds of nutters and extremists who can now search out likeminded twits online, exchange and recycle dis-information, and create a self-feeding cycle of egging one another on. By this means all manner of weird ideas can achieve an impetus, and lost souls find themselves thinking their mad ideas are normal and acceptable. Think about it- formerly, a young man with misguided ideas might voice them to his co-workers/sports team mates, or just fellow drinkers in the local bar….and would have probably got set straight pretty quickly. It’s a small but quite important part of how a society works. But things changed with the web, and we haven’t really worked out just how much yet. The terrible events in Plymouth last week might partially be blamed on the phenomena, and I suspect all kinds of extremist and single minded behaviour is being allowed to germinate where it would otherwise wither. There have always been such people, but it’s much easier for them to find each other now.
Perhaps someone should be scratching their heads what else this means. How do we tackle the strange directions that such people get taken off into? Indeed, what other bizarre concepts have found traction within the long straggling tendrils of online groups?
Anyway, my sympathies lie with the poor families blighted by this hideous affair.
I can’t really duck out from mention of the tragic events in Plymouth last week. There’s not much more that can be said about sympathy we all feel for the families touched by this awful business…how could any of us imagine what it’s like to lose loved ones in such circumstances? We can’t, we can only acknowledge the depth of loss that those involved must feel.
I’m somewhat conflicted about the apparent business with the perpetrators shotgun licence. I’m surprised the law hadn’t previously picked up his apparent ‘issues’ from the social media posts being widely quoted. Whether they should go looking for such things upon an initial application is one thing. But when someone has a licence withdrawn or suspended subject to some problem, I would’ve imagined a closer look would’ve been taken before it and the gun was returned. Someone suggested to me it’s a privacy matter, but I’d presume you forfeit the right to a certain degree of such personal rights if you want to hold a firearm or shotgun. And while I can imagine some of us feeling a bit uncomfortable with the idea of someone painstakingly crawling through our entire on-line presence – which is sure to employ legions of extra staff- I would rather hope they’d recognise the difference between the puerile or distasteful, and the downright unsettling and deranged. I’m none too sure how it goes if someone deliberately covers their digital tracks, because that would be a very different task. And it’s a reasonable bet that someone with something to hide wouldthen do just that.
I don’t know. It’s easy in hindsight. I have no small degree of empathy for one or two individuals who must’ve been responsible for taking the critical decisions in respect of this case. They may very well have been following the guidelines to the letter, but will undoubtedly have to carry a very heavy burden for ever more now.
And then, of course, the wide and varied lobby working against private gun ownership will pile in on the actions of one evidently very sick man, to further their cause. I live and work in an environment where firearms and shotguns are often simply tools of the trade of various professionals. When- as can happen- a cow breaks a leg out on the rough, or a rogue fox develops a taste for my newborn lambs, I need someone to be able to despatch each with efficiency and surety. And the law already have a strict overview into, and control of, who possesses and carries what weapons- current mistakes notwithstanding. So I’m hesitant to see the kneejerk reaction that will inevitably be called for.
Ironically, some operatives within the forces of law and order privately concede that there are large numbers of illegal firearms in circulation in urban centres. By definition the owners of these don’t have to go through much of a screening process or background checks. But this tragedy involved a legally held weapon, so that is where the focus will surely settle.
Another aspect that will undoubtedly come under scrutiny is the on-line community this man seems to have been involved in. I’ve considered for some time that the internet and social media platforms have changed the nature of human interaction in ways we’ve hardly grasped yet. Like the anti-vaxxers, animal rights loons or climate change deniers, all kinds of nutters and extremists who can now search out likeminded twits online, exchange and recycle dis-information, and create a self-feeding cycle of egging one another on. By this means all manner of weird ideas can achieve an impetus, and lost souls find themselves thinking their mad ideas are normal and acceptable. Think about it- formerly, a young man with misguided ideas might voice them to his co-workers/sports team mates, or just fellow drinkers in the local bar….and would have probably got set straight pretty quickly. It’s a small but quite important part of how a society works. But things changed with the web, and we haven’t really worked out just how much yet. The terrible events in Plymouth last week might partially be blamed on the phenomena, and I suspect all kinds of extremist and single minded behaviour is being allowed to germinate where it would otherwise wither. There have always been such people, but it’s much easier for them to find each other now.
Perhaps someone should be scratching their heads what else this means. How do we tackle the strange directions that such people get taken off into? Indeed, what other bizarre concepts have found traction within the long straggling tendrils of online groups?
Anyway, my sympathies lie with the poor families blighted by this hideous affair.