A WARNING TO THE US.

Letter to the Editor

Pat Bushey

Herald & News

PO Box 788

Klamath Falls, Or 97601

Dear Pat;

Great Britain's Crime Policies

I have commented in these pages on the rising crime rates in Great Britain and Asustralia since the banning of firearms in those countries for self-defense. Corroboration of my research now comes from a source as diverse as FORBES Magazine in an article by eminent British historian and author, the Honorable Paul Johnson. In the February issue of FORBES Johnson wrote an article he titled "Britain: A Thieves Paradise." He says, "Americans should be thankful they live in a country that takes crime seriously and is fighting it with growing success."

Johnson goes on to say that crime in Great Britain has reached "pandemic propertions", that few crimes are solved and that it is almost impossible to obtain burglary insurance unless the homeowner first installs "fortress-like security devices." In fact, hesays, "The only occasions that bestir the police to frenetic activity are when the houshold interrupts a burglar and resists him. If the burglar is hurt, his victim is invariably charged with assault." Think about that, fellow Americans!

An example Johnson uses to illustrate the reversed rol of the police and English justice system is that of a farmer who had been repeatedly burglarized and had received little help from the police, who then attempted to scare two burglars he had caught in the act by threatening them with his shotgun. But rather than fleeing, the burglars attacked the farmer and, in the ensuing struggle, the gun went off and one of the intruders was killed. The farmer was sentenced to life imprisonment. Though the sentence was later reduced on appeal, he was refused early release by the parole board on the ground that he was ( and I'm not making this up ) "a danger to burglars."

Mr. Johnson concludes a well-documented article by observing, "When a society abolishes capital punishment, it ceases to regard crime as a moral wrong and sees it a merely as a social problem." Then in closing he says, "The treatment of crime in Britain shows a historic shift away from the protection of life and property toward the pursuit of ideological ends." And he adds, "This is one of the reasons I advise young people nowadays to immigrate to the United States."

We must never allow this kind of liberal social experimentation to infect the United States. Where would we immigrate to?

Sincerely,

Reg LeQuieu