British Knife Ban - SERIOUSLY!

[Bryn]

Nice find...

There is the British explanation on there too.   

[gPink]

I just watched this the other day... how timely... lol!   

No wonder Europe is in the crapper.

[B.D.F.]

There is a major difference right there- the Dutch are not offended in the least when non- Dutch people call The Netherlands 'Holland'. But the English do seem a bit sensitive about mixing up the whole English / British thing. 

What DOES get the Dutch knickers in a twist is when you tell them that Dutch sounds just like German to a native English speaker. It seems they bear a.... er, grudge and don't like being associated with Germans :-)

Back to the subject at hand, I think it is very important for anyone discussing an issue like this to understand that most modern other first- world nations had gun control long before they had guns, which is why edged weapons are heavily regulated in most of those countries, and gun control started out as soon as guns were invented. In contrast, the US did not even have any small arms regulation whatsoever until 1934 and even that did not really regulate <most> of the small arms already in use and manufacture. My point here is that while it is all fine and well to look at another culture / country's methods, I do not think any of it is really applicable to the US. I am not choosing a side in the debate (arms control), merely stating that different countries developed their own internal methods differently over hundreds of years and so what seems strange or even ludicrous to some may actually work in a different place under different conditions.

Brian

Easy way to describe it... Born and bred in England - English first..British on the passport 

[Rick Hall]

There is a major difference right there- the Dutch are not offended in the least when non- Dutch people call The Netherlands 'Holland'. ...

Yes they do! Especially if they're not from North or South Holland... like Groningen 

What DOES get the Dutch knickers in a twist is when you tell them that Dutch sounds just like German to a native English speaker. ...

Perhaps it's better to say English language people ('Mericans) understand EU has two basic languages.... French and German. And if they're not talking like Julia Child, it must be Sgt. Shultz

Harry and Coty (from Groningen, go figure ) spend summers here, Dutch does NOT sound like German in the least, though Ich spreche ein wenig Deutsch. So... 

Back on topic, did anybody notice the date of the article from the OP? And did anybody Google "England knife ban" and see that a metric pile of hits were about topics on other forums/blogs that started about the same time as this thread?

Rick

[Steve in Sunny Fla]

Nice catch on the date Rick - I didn't see that, and that article was soething I found in a daily news feed so I figured it was something going on just now. The fact that this is 7 years old really only reinforces that there has been and will  be a constant push for governments to take away everything down to rubber spoons, just before we destroy the human race with nuclear bombs. Steve

[Boomer]

Whoops, I must be breaking the law as I have several long knives at home.
Some are used to cut bread, some to slice meat, and some are used in my garage.

What the ban was for was CARRYING a knife on your person in a public place.
Since we don't really have any wilderness left in the UK then unless you can prove you need the knife for your work, then you must be carrying it to stab someone with, even if only in self defence.

If y'all live in or near the country then yes, you may need a knife/gun, but in a city?
Please remember that the UK is NOTHING LIKE anywhere in the USA, despite the common language we share.

As for the "government" taking away these rights. That is bullsh!t.
The UK electorate DEMANDED that our govt ban handguns after the Dunblaine massacre and most of us agree on the knife ban too.
If you want rifles and shotguns, then apply for a licence and buy the guns.
A friend has several of each and they are quite legal.
Semi-Autos and handguns are flat out illegal and since their only purpose is to kill humans, that is as it should be.

I am sure that many on here will disagree with my opinions, and that is as it should be. 
If you don't like the UK laws, then don't move here.
I like the USA, and I like the people even more, but I couldn't live there.

[gPink]

Boomer, I feel just the opposite. Out here in the country I feel fairly safe. It's only when I have to venture into a city that I feel an overwhelming need for armor and excessive weapons.

[Outback_Jon]

Boomer, I feel just the opposite. Out here in the country I feel fairly safe. It's only when I have to venture into a city that I feel an overwhelming need for armor and excessive weapons.

+1

But I don't understand your use of the word "excessive".   

[gPink]

 

[Rhino]

Whoops, I must be breaking the law as I have several long knives at home.
Some are used to cut bread, some to slice meat, and some are used in my garage.

What the ban was for was CARRYING a knife on your person in a public place.

The original post was about a proposal to ban ownership of long knives even at home.

[B.D.F.]

OK, so England is idyllic and has mastered personal weaponry- fine and well. But now you (the lot of you, English or British, whichever fits) are now going to regulate implements that most people use normally in the home and workshops of the world, namely long, pointy things. Again, fine and well. But this does bring up questions (serious questions, I am not being facetious here): if you buy a new, say, carving knife in a public store, can you legally carry it home in a shopping bag inside the car? If not, how is it delivered to your address, via mail (postal) service? If delivered that way, is your mailman (postman) required to verify that you are who you claim to be, and have reached the age of majority so that you may take possession of said knife?

Believe it or not, the US also regulates the 'carry' of knifes in most, if not all areas, under the general term 'deadly weapon'. That said, it is not illegal for a woman to buy any size or shape knife for domestic use, freely walk out of the store with it (in any type of container) and deliver said device to her home or anywhere else she chooses to.

The rub here is that while the intent of the law is to stop young people from carrying large knives to be used as weapons, we still allow the <more or less> perfectly free movement and trade of any edged device between reasonable places (store / home for example). On some level, a lawnmower blade looks more or less like a sword so it becomes a problem using codified law to clearly state what is legal and of no consequence to the commonwealth and what is not. A slippery slope as we say here in the colonies.

If your system is working for you then I wish you the continued benefit from such laws and procedures as you have now and may gain in the future. Everyone would like to live in a low risk, relatively safe environment. We American struggle constantly between balancing the rights of the individual, which we try our very best not to interfere with, and the wants and needs of the greater society that may and probably does have different wants and needs. So far, I think our system has done a very good job overall (as good as could reasonably be expected) in balancing out those freedoms and needs.

Brian

Whoops, I must be breaking the law as I have several long knives at home.
Some are used to cut bread, some to slice meat, and some are used in my garage.

What the ban was for was CARRYING a knife on your person in a public place.
Since we don't really have any wilderness left in the UK then unless you can prove you need the knife for your work, then you must be carrying it to stab someone with, even if only in self defence.

If y'all live in or near the country then yes, you may need a knife/gun, but in a city?
Please remember that the UK is NOTHING LIKE anywhere in the USA, despite the common language we share.

As for the "government" taking away these rights. That is bullsh!t.
The UK electorate DEMANDED that our govt ban handguns after the Dunblaine massacre and most of us agree on the knife ban too.
If you want rifles and shotguns, then apply for a licence and buy the guns.
A friend has several of each and they are quite legal.
Semi-Autos and handguns are flat out illegal and since their only purpose is to kill humans, that is as it should be.

I am sure that many on here will disagree with my opinions, and that is as it should be. 
If you don't like the UK laws, then don't move here.
I like the USA, and I like the people even more, but I couldn't live there.

[Nosmo]

Every hardware store and gardening store in the US sells machetes, which in many countries are primarily weapons, but here are considered "garden tools", and can legally be carried just about anywhere.  They can lop off an arm or a leg or a head with a single stroke.  Perfectly legal.

[Pokey]

All of my knives are tools, and I carry one every single day.

[VirginiaJim]

You're a tool.  Happy New Year, BTW. 

[Pokey]

You're a tool.  Happy New Year, BTW. 

You too Jim!

[Boomer]

Brian,
The internet is a wonderful place but it is rife with lies and bullshit.

Yes, we do have laws governing who can carry what and these are detailed here.
https://www.gov.uk/find-out-if-i-can-buy-or-carry-a-knife
There have been no changes to this since 2007 and no proposed changes in the pipeline that I have heard of.

Note the second line where it says "without good reason".
A friend regularly carries a knife with a 12" blade but he works with plasterboard (drywall?) and it's a tool of his trade.
Now if he couldn't prove that it was a work tool, it would be confiscated and he would face up to 4 years in jail.

Nobody is going to get arrested walking home with a kitchen knife still in its packaging.
If they remove it from the packaging and start waving it around in public then they deserve everything that will happen to them for being a ****wit!
All laws require some interpretation by those enforcing them and yes an asshole cop could bust someone for walking home with a new kitchen knife.
However, the courts would almost certainly dismiss the case and then charge the cop with wasting the courts time (it happens!) so only an idiot asshole cop would try.

As for people being tools,... maybe not, but we are all tool users.
Some people are "toolheads" however. 

Happy New Year all.

[Rhino]

If they remove it from the packaging and start waving it around in public then they deserve everything that will happen to them for being a ****wit!

Same thing here. No one is advocating people going around intimidating others without lawful consequences. Even if it's with fists. Should we ban fists because someone might do that? The original post is about a proposal to ban long pointy knives completely. That is what we are responding to. Many of us find such laws silly because most of us on this forum could create a deadly sharp pointy object in a few minutes and to ban them is equivalent to banning rocks. We also know that such laws only effect the law abiding and thus make it easier for the lawless to wreck havoc.