Have we become obsessed with eliminating risk?

[crookesey]

Does anyone remember the dick head Labour minister who advocated manufacturing knives without points?

 

I would have loved to have heard Gordon Ramsey's thoughts on the subject.

[GordonBennet]

There was a stat on Newsnight last night. Did you know that in Britain there are 5 guns in circulation per 100 people. I had no idea it was that high. I've never met someone who owns a gun (or they just haven't mentioned it).

 

I personally don't have a problem with vermin control by shotgun - better than poison, surely, neither bagging a rabbit for the casserole dish. Wouldn't want to see very other townie with a shotgun though claiming to have a taste for rabbit.

 

Whilst we do know that some form of gun control is necessary, it would be a knee jerk reaction to ban private ownership of guns altogether.

 

True, some may look to America where everyone owns a gun and point out that over there gun crime is so common that a case like this would barely make the papers. But on the other hand, even if this guy in Cumbria didn't have guns he 'd have found another way of going on his killing spree. You can't blame the weapon for the actions of the owner.

[medusa]

I find it hilarious when people comment about reducing risks most of the time, because the people who find crossing roads unbearably risky seem to be completely unaware that one of the riskiest things that anyone can do is to wake up in the morning.

 

In cardiac terms the greatest risk period of the day is the blood pressure rise which happens just as you wake up in order for you to get out of bed. When you're lying down asleep your blood pressure drops because when your head is level with your heart there's much less pressure needed to get sufficient blood to the brain and your muscles are calling for much less oxygen because your body is at rest.

 

After a number of hours of this low blood pressure, waking and getting your blood pressure back up to high enough that you can get out of bed without passing out as your head rises so far above your heart is a very short but really very huge increase in loading on your heart, which causes a peak in the level of cardiac and cerebral events.

 

Risk is an inherent part of living and cannot be eradicated. What is important is identifying and eradicating unnecessary and unacceptable risk over general risk.

[crookesey]

I find it hilarious when people comment about reducing risks most of the time, because the people who find crossing roads unbearably risky seem to be completely unaware that one of the riskiest things that anyone can do is to wake up in the morning.

 

In cardiac terms the greatest risk period of the day is the blood pressure rise which happens just as you wake up in order for you to get out of bed. When you're lying down asleep your blood pressure drops because when your head is level with your heart there's much less pressure needed to get sufficient blood to the brain and your muscles are calling for much less oxygen because your body is at rest.

 

After a number of hours of this low blood pressure, waking and getting your blood pressure back up to high enough that you can get out of bed without passing out as your head rises so far above your heart is a very short but really very huge increase in loading on your heart, which causes a peak in the level of cardiac and cerebral events.

 

Risk is an inherent part of living and cannot be eradicated. What is important is identifying and eradicating unnecessary and unacceptable risk over general risk.

 

So that's why we could never get our son out of bed.

[spinac]

You can't blame the weapon for the actions of the owner.

 

True, but nevertheless some freedoms do need to be curtailed for the benefit of others. The American right to defend yourself with firearms also translates into the right to shoot your parents when they **** you off. Most guns end up not being used for sport, or to protect the family against invaders, but to settle family disputes, or because you're bored and don't like Mondays.

 

Cocaine doesn't kill people, but its use to excess does. I'd rather legalise class A drugs and ban lethal weapons. If you overdose on drugs that's your problem. If you go on a shoting spree that's a different matter.

 

I don't like Mondays ...

 

When asked why she committed the shooting Spencer replied, "I just did it for the fun of it. I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day. I have to go now. I shot a pig (policeman) I think and I want to shoot more. I'm having too much fun (to surrender)."[2] [1] She also said, "I had no reason for it, and it was just a lot of fun," "It was just like shooting ducks in a pond,"' and, "[The children] looked like a herd of cows standing around; it was really easy pickings." At the time of the shootings, Spencer was 16 years old.[3]

 

[Wikipedia]

[Mecky]

You can't reduce risks. Anyone who gets a gun on the black market and is prepared to blow their brains out after a killing spree will not think twice about gun regulation or other laws.

[spinac]

You can't reduce risks. Anyone who gets a gun on the black market and is prepared to blow their brains out after a killing spree will not think twice about gun regulation or other laws.

 

So a black market exists ... guns can be obtained illegally. Hardly a reason for permitting anybody and everybody to have free access to their weapon of choice.

[Paul2412]

Unfortunately, there are so many dumb (or in the Cumbria case, mentally unstable) people around that we all have to be treated like kids just in case one of them does something stupid.

[alchresearch]

Not just stupid things - everything. They want to increase the price of alcohol because of the minority who misuse it.

[cosywolf]

One of my 'safety' bugbears is that SCC have a policy of cutting the lower branches off of trees in parks specifically to stop children climbing them. Grrr!

 

Thankfully managed risk in child play is now back on the agenda. Now, if SCC would just take note...