Brussels central station incident
 

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Re: Brussels central station incident
 

Great that they got him and of course this follows on from the lunatic who crashed a car full of weapons into a police convoy in Paris the other day.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...lice-van-paris

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

Great work by the police to take him down before anyone got hurt.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

Just goes to show these lunatics are still out there and at least getting hold of guns is a lot harder in the UK. Imagine what the London Bridge **** would have been able to do with guns.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

It really isn't that hard to buy an illegal firearm in the UK ammunition of a decent quality in bulk is a little harder but also doable if you have the cash. Whilst firearms are not a total solution they are not a total problem either and could be beneficial but we are not supposed to think like that so no one that counts dares suggest it publicly.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

It's a lot harder that it is in mainland Europe, especially for those (which most of these 'terrorists' seem to be) who aren't exactly hardened criminals. The guy in Paris (and others before) had AK47s, when was the last time one of those was used in the UK. That being said, the police can't afford to be complacent about this because sooner or later guns will be obtained and used by these **** rather than knives.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

If you want to remain under the radar you utilise what you have legally to hand.

Think about the "lethal weapons" you could use, drop something from a crane, drive bulldozer or similar into buildings/bridges/supports. You don't even need to be that lethal, the object is to cause terror and to get reactions and us to change our ways.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

French radio says that despite being on the "List F" he had a weapons permit and legally held weapons.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

Exactly. There are numerous ways in which we are all vulnerable to people who would do us harm. It comes down to the potential for large scale murder so weapons like guns and explosives would be high on the list for any terrorist but there are many other readily available options for such people.

---------- Post added at 17:23 ---------- Previous post was at 17:06 ----------

It seems his bomb failed to explode properly and he was only shot after he then tried to attack nearby staff.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40352351

Seems they were lucky this time.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

That was my understanding. He tried to detonate his vest whilst standing near a crowd of commuters but it didn't go off properly.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

I bet that smarts. :D

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

I was having a little argument about this with a friend on Facebook. He is English as emigrated to the US in around 2000.

Since emigrating to the US, he has become a bit of a gun nut, and has become right wing, even for the US. Which, as Hugh posted a while back, is considerably more right wing than us, as even the Democrats (who are considered a left wing party in the US) are roughly equivalent to the conservatives in their core beliefs. Odd really, as he was quite left wing (by our standards) over here, and a pacifist.

He has actually posted a lot of bull backing up Trump's assertions (he is a rabid Trump supporter) that the UK has become some sort of Muslim enclave.

He was posted about the London Bridge attack, and posted that Guns should be more freely available in the UK purely to stop things like this. I did have to point out that Guns are freely available in the US, and the US, if anything, has been hit by more of these attacks than we have, but he would not have it.

I did also have to point out that he lived in London in the late 70s/80s . He lived through the IRA's campaign. London was hit a lot more by the IRA than it has been by ISIS, and usually larger campaigns. He wasn't calling to arm people then (quite the opposite).

My point is that free availability of guns in the US has not helped their terrorist situation. And while I do know that certain states do not allow guns, there is nothing to stop someone crossing state lines with a gun.

---------- Post added at 10:00 ---------- Previous post was at 09:26 ----------

Regarding the bombing, I am glad the guy was caught. Assuming he was Muslim (I don't know if he was or wasn't), he has not succeeded in his mission. He will not get any reward in heaven, just the knowledge that he is going to be stuck in a prison cell, worried that his other inmates will find out he tried to kill lots of people who live in Brussels (including, possibly, their family and friends).

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

It only takes a casual glance at the murder statistics in the UK and US to see how living in the latter - a society in which the right to bear arms is enshrined in the constitution and gun ownership is common - is far more dangerous than living in the former. Many many times more dangerous.

It stands to reason too. It's much easier to kill with a gun than a knife for example and in heated situations where guns are present there's always going to be a tendency to reach for one and use it in a moment of rage.

Anyone who thinks they're safer from crime living in the US than the UK needs their head examined.

Re: Brussels central station incident
 

I think this is an underestimated factor in having guns easily available. Adding a gun to a situation can lead to escalation even for those trained to use them. Look at the recent Philando Castile case. A guy pulled over by the police who then told the policeman he had a legally owned firearm and was then shot by that policeman after, if you believe the officer, he panicked after incorrectly believing Castile was trying to get his gun.

It was a routine stop with no violence that quickly turned deadly because there were guns around.