Maybe he's incredulous that simply practicing with them "in public" would be considered "bad."
Yes there is and yes there are. I'm "plugged into" the HEMA community a bit and I know for a fact there is outrage amongst the community over the strict laws and there has, in fact, been "grassroots" lobbying efforts to change them. Do you not remember the "Save Our Swords" campaign?
Unless you're a martial artist and want to both visit and practice a sword art.so really it doesn't concern anyone else.
Yeah, I get that.
I get that too. But claiming that everyone there apparently likes those particular laws and there's no voter pushback against them is inaccurate.
So, to a lot of us, this isn't logical and they're going to want to try to discuss and debate the pros and cons. It's unavoidable when these sort of stories are posted. Just part of being human.
lol.. go for it. you'll probably be correct. The U.S. is full of crazy stuff especially in the legal system. The next time someone gives you a hard time about the laws in your area. Just look up one of the many stupid laws in the U.S. and post that as your response. That should provide you with 20 years of good responses.
And everybody has that? If the economic problems you list below are true, then I rather doubt that everyone has that much disposable income.
Again, this is demonstrably not true. While it might not be on everyone's minds, saying that it's on no ones is simply not true.
Just like everyone else. Doesn't mean you get to misrepresent facts to support your point of view. Fact is, not everyone there is happy with the law and those people are, in fact, working to get it changed, despite what you earlier wrote.
The only one who characterized "the whole country" is you. You already said, "are our laws and we like them, there's no outcry for them to be changed, no one is lobbying their MPs." All three of those statements of fact are inaccurate. Not everyone there "likes them," there is, in fact, an "outcry for them to be changed," and there are, in fact, people there "lobbying their MPs." Just because they have a vested interest in the item in question doesn't automatically exempt them from the set of "everyone in England."
So far, the only persons in this thread specifically criticizing the referenced laws are the people who also live in England/GB which I already referenced and linked to. If I lived there, yes, I would be highly critical of them and work to change them. But I've deliberately left that alone, preferring, instead, to simply point out that your claim that everyone there likes 'em just fine is simply not true. It is, at best, misrepresenting the issue; rosily painting it, per se.
I get that, but, despite the fact that you, personally, would LIKE it to be "there's no story here," in fact, there is. It made the news in the Standard and it is of interest to any martial artist who used "swords," including Kobudo practitioners, as well as historians and researchers. I agree that "martial artists" are a rather small subset of any Western population, but they're certainly not 'nobody'.
Are they? I've not heard of any outcry to change our weapons laws, or of anyone lobbying their MP.
Yes. I referenced the "Save Our Swords" campaign and gave a link up-thread.
I don't think referencing as campaign that happened more than 10 years ago disproves Taz's points. I think her take on the situation is more accurate.
These people haven't gone away. I trade posts with them regularly on Face Book. The fact is that, no Tez's statements that "our laws and we like them, there's no outcry for them to be changed, no one is lobbying their MPs" are all demonstrably wrong.
Quite so.
Indeed. It is similar here in many places in the U.S. Given how urbanized Britain is, in comparison with the U.S. and Canada, I'm really surprised to hear that training areas are comparatively cheap, nor does it agree with what I've been told of the cost of training areas by my friends living here, though I admit that is primarily London based and so may be less representative.
In the U.S., it is often very circumstantial. A lone individual in the park may get a "man with a weapon" call and a friendly visit from the police. Groups tend to be ignored with the assumption that they're martial artists or LARPers. Some cities and states have varying codes as well, along with varying degrees of enforcement. New York State isn't the same as New York City, never mind Dayton, Ohio.
I wouldn't either, though that's more because I simply don't trust that passers-by wouldn't be stupid enough to do something dumb. I just had an image of some cell-phone zombie walking directly into the blade path.
According to the exchange rate sites I check, it fluctuates.
You'd think, but that's not necessarily so. I know some folks who have to scrimp and save for a fair period to be able to afford an entry level beater and would be hard pressed to cut an extra $5-10 every week (assuming they want to practice more than once per week) out of the family budget. Over the course of a year, that adds up to real money. I also know of a few folks who would have none at all but for loaners and gifts. I suppose that all but the most down trodden could afford an extra "couple of quid" every other month or so, but would you be willing to only train once a month?
I get that. I've tried to avoid making any sort of value statements or personal opinions upon the law itself in this thread, until pressed to do so.
I don't recall accusing you of lying anywhere. Would you mind terribly linking to it to refresh my memory? What I do recall writing is that a particular set of statements you made were inaccurate. I made no attempt to attribute motive or reason to why the statements were inaccurate. When faced with the fact that what a person has previously said or believed is demonstrably not so, a reasonable person would simply adjusts their statements and accept it: "Oh, I wasn't aware of those guys until now." However, that's not human nature is it?
A number greater than 0 would be all which is required to refute the statement. Nevertheless, I can assure you that the issue is far greater than 0. It is a "big deal" among the HEMA community which, even in Britain, numbers greater than 0. I'm given to understand that it easily crests the three figures threshold in London alone. Is this a vast and seething multitude? I doubt it. But neither is the entire population of martial artists in any western nation, of which HEMA groups are a subset, as I believe I already wrote.
Ummm... So? Just because they have a specific interest somehow makes their positions irrelevant? I don't get it?
I get that too. My brother's a Michigan fan... living in Ohio.As for Oxford people meh, I'm a Cambridge person.
Good to know.
According to the exchange rate sites I check, it fluctuates.
You'd think, but that's not necessarily so. I know some folks who have to scrimp and save for a fair period to be able to afford an entry level beater and would be hard pressed to cut an extra $5-10 every week (assuming they want to practice more than once per week) out of the family budget. Over the course of a year, that adds up to real money. I also know of a few folks who would have none at all but for loaners and gifts. I suppose that all but the most down trodden could afford an extra "couple of quid" every other month or so, but would you be willing to only train once a month?
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
