Imagine the cops setting up metal detectors on the street-

all for your own good, of course. But if you're in (formerly)Great Britain, you don't have to imagine it:
High-profile plans to tackle knife crime with airport-style scanners have been called into question after it emerged that each police force will be given just two of the new metal detectors.

The Home Office's proposal for the scanners was thrown further into doubt when the police officer in charge of the plan urged pubs and clubs to buy them themselves.
Yeah, the gummint won't pay for enough to keep you peasants in line people safe, so we want the pub to do it for us. All for their own good, of course.

There were also concerns it might be difficult to force people to walk through the scanners on the street if they did not want to, because of stop and search rules which require them to fill out a consent form first.
"The peasants don't have to just do it when ordered, damn their eyes!"

Further down we find this bit if intelligent thought:
Jan Berry, the chairman of the Police Federation which represents rank and file officers, said the proposals were "nothing more than sticking plaster solutions that do nothing to actually address the root of the problem, and the growing lawlessness and loutish behaviour we are experiencing on the streets".
which is encouraging. Except that it's followed by this:
David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "We called for this in 2004 and, despite ample opportunity and repeated promises by the Government, all we have for years on now is 500 machines.

"That is just a drop in the ocean compared with the thousands of schools, pubs, clubs and other target premises where possession of knives lead to violent crime."

No, you socialist jackass, knives do NOT 'lead to violent crime'; thugs and people with no concern for the lives of others do. Here we see the continuance of the real problem in this approach: blaming objects for what people do. Knives can't 'lead' to anything, any more than guns or cars or tire irons do, but it's so much easier and more politically correct for you to blame objects than to actually hold the bad guys responsible. You friggin' idiots.

I wrote once about one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever seen, a 14-year-old kid who'd just been grabbed for murder. His first offense and arrest- theft- had happened when he was 9, and he got a nasty talking to. Every step from there, from theft to damaging property to assault, etc., all he ever got was a slap on the hand and probation. Now he was 14 and had murdered someone, and the judge had just informed him he'd be certified as an adult for trial, which meant life in prison if convicted. Two deputies were having to carry the little bastard out of court, he was screaming in flat terror, and I think may have lost control of his bladder because he was actually going to be held to account and it had never happened before. He was scared to death, and rightly so. But due to his never having had a severe kick in the ass, or ANY real penalty before from parent/s or government, no matter what he did(because he's only a CHILD, you heartless pig, how can you punish him?!?) he'd never seen any downside to his actions. Until it finally caught up to him. So people had been injured and finally killed by him, his life was screwed, and a lot of the people responsible for this occurring were bitching and whining racism and 'nobody cares' and all the other bullshit.

Mr. Shadow Home Secretary, start dealing with the bad people, and start teaching kids that there are rules- real ones, not PC bullcrap ones- and penalties for breaking them; you'll be amazed what a difference it'll make.