Recently a Home Office spokesman said that the new provisions in the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 would only be used in “very exceptional circumstances“, which has of course been claimed before for various bits of legislation that have subsequently, and to little surprise, been used in very unexceptional circumstances. However this does reinforce the idea that this (and probably most any other) government are quite happy to bring in legislation to deal with “exceptional circumstances” before such circumstances arise. Then there’s the continual attempts to bring in 42 day detention with out trial, just in case it’s needed at some indeterminate point in the future. So it would seem that pre-emptive legislation is somewhat à la Mode, and it really doesn’t matter if it’s already illegal, duplicate legislation is quite OK.
For example the Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition and Inspections) Act 1998 makes it illegal to “knowingly” cause a nuclear explosion, with convicted offenders liable for “imprisonment for life“. A fairly clear bit of law you’d think and not really much in need of expansion but no, for the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, brought in by the same government, apart from adding a slew of new offences also states in section 47:
Use etc. of nuclear weapons
(1) A person who—
(a) knowingly causes a nuclear weapon explosion;
….
is guilty of an offence.
also with a penalty of life imprisonment. So at least they don’t care too much why you caused the nuclear explosion. Though reassuringly it is a defence to claim you didn’t know it was a nuclear weapon. Now as far as I’m aware nuclear terrorist attacks are still confined to the realms of science fiction and the minds of our legislative bodies, but it does make me wonder why they stopped there. After all if pre-emptive legislation to deal with potential future threats is a good thing, then where are the laws against:
- killer robots
- killer bees
- zombie armies
- Cthulhu
- death stars
and a whole host of other possible threats. Aren’t these people taking our security seriously?
All of which lead me to a rather amusing idea, perhaps we should all write to our representatives and the Home Secretary to request that they do something to tackle these threats before it’s too late! We should be demanding legislation against “weaponised Apis mellifera” (Killer bees) or the even more sinister “weaponised Vespula vulgaris” (Black swarm). There are so many B movies out there to inspire both us and the ravening hoards of terrorists attempting to destroy our society, burn our cattle (unless DEFRA got there first), eat our children etc. The plus side of course is that whilst they’re either writing back to us, or with luck even looking into such matters they won’t be writing other legislation to further curtail our liberties.
Look at it as a filibuster of the government by the populous, and rather than a single easily and rapidly dismissed campaign, start your own. Pick your favourite B-movie, anime, sci-fi and describe the terrible threat using the most convincing language you can and try to get them to take it seriously. Remember some of these ideas have actually been looked at in the past and lasers, killer robots and ray guns are all coming to a battle field near you soon. At worst we may at least get some amusement out of how seriously they do or don’t take things. Perhaps we could send a prize to the first one that catches on or responds in kind.
I shall post my humble attempts and any replies I may get here.
Not sure who to write to, just ask “They work for you“
