Scottish Man in Custody for Carrying Potato Peeler in Public

[Randygmn]

I heard it was a fully automatic potato peeler. It can peel 100 potatoes and hour. This high capacity assault peeler should not be in the hands of an ordinary citizen. Only the most trained restaurateurs would have the training to know when it is appropriate to peel that many potatoes. Just think of all the potatoes that would be wasted. Not to mention it is colored tactical red and has all sorts of scary features like thingies that flip up.

I mean it is for the children after all.

Thank God it wasn’t a high powered, fully semiautomatic version with an adjustable handle for length of peel. Now THAT would’ve been terrifying. Can you imagine the carnage one could do with that, especially if ISIS could get those in quantity? What’s next, featureless peelers?

[smurfman]

This sounds like the police had reason to believe the suspect intended to use the peeler as a weapon. This is very similar to using a screwdriver in place of a knife while committing a robbery. One could claim the screwdriver was not a weapon thereby avoiding the charges enhanced with the "aggravated" appellation. My first captain had his son in law killed in such a manner: the assailant received 4 years for manslaughter rather than much longer for murder.

Not saying I fully agree with the charge in the story but I can see how it could be greater than it seems at first glance.

[Holland&Holland]

This sounds like the police had reason to believe the suspect intended to use the peeler as a weapon. This is very similar to using a screwdriver in place of a knife while committing a robbery. One could claim the screwdriver was not a weapon thereby avoiding the charges enhanced with the "aggravated" appellation. My first captain had his son in law killed in such a manner: the assailant received 4 years for manslaughter rather than much longer for murder.

Not saying I fully agree with the charge in the story but I can see how it could be greater than it seems at first glance.

That is an awful lot of speculation.

regardless, the fact that they have a law on the books about carrying a sharp object is scary enough, then throw on top that they can apply it to a potato peeler?

[andrewP]

The term "nanny state" originated in Britain for a reason.

[BigBlue]

The term "nanny state" originated in Britain for a reason.

I thought it came from Minnesota...