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Knives are too Sharp and Filing Down their Points is Solution to Soaring Violent Crime, Judge Says

posted by martyb on Friday June 01 2018, @04:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the pointed-question dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

A judge has proposed a nationwide programme to file down the points of kitchen knives as a solution to the country’s soaring knife crime epidemic.

Last week in his valedictory address, retiring Luton Crown Court Judge Nic Madge spoke of his concern that carrying a knife had become routine in some circles and called on the Government to ban the sale of large pointed kitchen knives.

[...] He said laws designed to reduce the availability of weapons to young would-be offenders had had “almost no effect”, since the vast majority had merely taken knives from a cutlery drawer.

[...] He asked: “But why we do need eight-inch or ten-inch kitchen knives with points?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/27/knives-sharp-filing-solution-soaring-violent-crime-judge-says/

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @09:41AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 01 2018, @09:41AM (#687169)

    (incidentally... with the same caveats, it's legal to have such a gun in the UK! Just not assault rifles!).

    Wrong. Handguns are illegal in the UK, assault rifles are illegal in both the UK and the US. AFAIK nothing in UK legislation would ban ownership of semi-automatic sporting rifles like the AR15 (with appropriate licence conditions).

    A gun in your back pocket, concealed or not, while doing the daily shop... that's incredibly worrying (and that's where UK/US gun laws differ vastly).

    What percentage of unlawful killings or firearms incidents in the US are because of citizens with a legal concealed carry permit? What percentage of firearms incidents in the UK involve legally obtained and licensed firearms?

    Knives are the same. What type/kind/size of knive does not matter very much in comparison to "why do you have that on you, here, now?"

    Go one further; "why are you here now"? Does it matter if I'm walking down the road with a length of chain, piping or golf club? I'm unlikely to be brandishing these items as offensive weapons and there would always be a reason for my possessing the item. What reason would a school kid in London have for carrying these items and how could it be persecution when the only possible legal explanation is criminal intent?

    We have two choices in the UK, we either stamp down on criminals using weapons or we legalise carrying weapons in self defence. But let's not ask the current political left what the answer to the problems they caused should be, criminals are just an oppressed and misunderstood class for them to ruthlessly exploit in their lust for power.

    however there are some weapons - assault rifles - where even a single suitable venue is hard to even fathom

    Assault (AKA: fully automatic) rifles (AKA: machine guns) are already illegal for citizens to own in the USA. You can put a bump stock on a semi-automatic and there's no practical difference but the legal distinction remains the trigger mechanism. I submit that you are not "100% pro-gun-control", you simply have not fully thought through the logic of your own arguments. I do not like guns but against a backdrop of stab-fests, acid attacks and terrorism (that the political class lack the will to prevent or deal with) it's time to greatly rethink UK gun legislation.