Common sense knife control?

Are you in favor of any laws restricting knives?

  • Nope

  • In some extremely limited cases

  • Yes, but I think the laws in my state/country are too restrictive

  • Yes, and I generally agree with the laws in my state/country

  • Yes, and I think the laws in my area should be more restrictive

Results are only viewable after voting.
I spent a couple years working as an Officer in the El Paso courts screening incoming defendants and as a bailiff. I can't recall ever seeing someone charged with a stand alone illegal knife crime. If a defendant was charged with criminal possession of a knife , it was always tacked on to something much more serious.
 
I know that I'm in the tiniest minority here...
I do think that the laws are far too restrictive here in New York State.
But I'm am not in favor of removing ALL restrictions...
Law-abiding citizens should not have their rights taken away...
But keeping knives out of the hands of those who have proven to not follow the laws, or who have proven to be a danger to themselves and those around them: need to have much more serious guidelines imposed.
 
Like so many other things I just don't understand the logic behind it. If someone is going to knock over a convenience store with a knife, why would they bother listening to blade restrictions? Once more, like many other things the only people the legislation applies to are the people that you don't need to worry about by dint of the fact they are listening to and abiding by the laws.

It reminds me of a piece of legislation in New Jersey I heard about....There it is illegal to commit a felony while wearing body armor. The obvious retort is: if they are already willing to commit a violent felony, why would they care that its double illegal to do so with body armor? It makes no sense.

Violent crime is always going to be a problem I just dont see much evidence that any of it is curbed one way or another by working around the edges and allowing 3 inch blades rather than 3.5 inch blades or having axis style knives but not autos, or having laws against concealing fixed blades but you can have a 9 inch machete open carry. None of that does a thing to stop the people you actually need to be worried about.
 
Bob Denman said:
...But keeping knives out of the hands of those who have proven to not follow the laws, or who have proven to be a danger to themselves and those around them: need to have much more serious guidelines imposed.
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Are you volunteering to run over to their place twice a day to cut their steaks for them. Kitchen knives are by far the most used criminal cutting implements. How do you propose to ban that? And, what would keep someone from grinding just about anything into a shank? I for one wouldn't care if people were walking around with functioning light sabers. If you want to get a handle on crime, you begin by making sure criminals are no longer free to walk our streets. Give them real sentences and maybe many of them would decide that "crime just doesn't pay".

n2s
 
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I never said that there were any easy answers...
Perhaps we can limit them to eating hamburgers; rather than steak! 😁
They're the ones who make it tougher on the rest of us... We need them to be taken out of the equation. That way: our rights won't suffer...
But as to how ?
I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Are you saying that they eat steak TWICE a day?????
 
Bob Denman said:
I never said that there were any easy answers...
Perhaps we can limit them to eating hamburgers; rather than steak! 😁
They're the ones who make it tougher on the rest of us... We need them to be taken out of the equation. That way: our rights won't suffer...
But as to how ?
I'm open to any and all suggestions.
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Isn't that what prison is for? Don't want to dabble too much into politics as I do it for a living but this is the age old question. If you aren't at least mostly confident that someone you are releasing from jail due to past offenses isn't going to go right back out there and commit another crime should they be released in the first place?

Knives are ubiquitous. Even by some miracle if you go take all the kitchen knives out of their house and somehow prevent them from buying more at the store what is to stop them from hitting up a steak house and palming one of the steak knives? They are everywhere. They are simple. I don't like violent crime either but if someone has violent intent it seems foolhardy for the solution to be trying to keep sharpened pieces of metal out of their hands while they are free out in the world with the rest of us. If they need that kind of scrutiny there is a fairly solid case they shouldn't be out in the world with the rest of us.
 
Bob Denman said:
.....But as to how ?
I'm open to any and all suggestions.....
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I can be reasonable and I understand that people can make mistakes. So I would suggest:
1) On their first conviction for a violent assault with a deadly weapon, we make an honest effort at reforming the criminal.
2) On their second conviction for the same, we simply lock them up for appropriately long stay.
3) But, should they manage to do it again, we simply sever their throats and preserve their heads in a Jar by the court house.

Youngsters can then walk by, tour the collection and decide whether they would like to become a part of it.

n2s
 
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c7m2p3 said:
.....
Knives are ubiquitous. Even by some miracle if you go take all the kitchen knives out of their house and somehow prevent them from buying more at the store what is to stop them from hitting up a steak house and palming one of the steak knives? They are everywhere. They are simple. I don't like violent crime either but if someone has violent intent it seems foolhardy for the solution to be trying to keep sharpened pieces of metal out of their hands while they are free out in the world with the rest of us. If they need that kind of scrutiny there is a fairly solid case they shouldn't be out in the world with the rest of us.
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The progressive solution would be to essentially incarcerate the law abiding, so that they can be "protected" behind restrictive walls, even as the criminals are allowed to run loose in the wild. It would be the ultimate version of the beloved "gated community".

n2s
 
not2sharp said:
The progressive solution would be to essentially incarcerate the law abiding, so that they can be "protected" behind restrictive walls, even as the criminals are allowed to run loose in the wild. It would be the ultimate version of the beloved "gated community".

n2s
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Unfortunately real life for some of our community members in London. "No reason to carry a knife" they say. I can think of a few hundred none of which has anything to do with violence.
 
Sure, we need very restrictive knife laws to control crime. Look at the UK, where you can't carry a knife. Oh wait, don't they have a huge problem with people getting stabbed in London and other cities? Guess its not working out too well for them.

All kidding aside, I am in favor of very strict knife laws for convicted felons. If one is a convicted felon, and caught carrying anything more than a SAK classic, then its jail time. But for the law abiding Joe Citizen, carry of anything you want should be the order of the day. A convicted felon is someone who at one time demonstrated a willingness to disregard the laws of the land and the rights of others. He needs to be very restricted after he served his prison sentence so he is no longer a threat to the law abiding armed citizen going about their life. This would slant the game way way over to the citizen going about his life. If the convicted felon is caught in a second offense, using a weapon, then in addition to a second and longer prison term, he has his right hand removed. Then at least if he survives his second prison term, he will be easy to spot in the street as a repeat criminal.

If only I could be the head cheese for a day...
 
DangerZone98 said:
“Well, what do you propose then?” the naysayers will holler. And I think there’s no straightforward answer to that. Probably a combination of education, good standards of living, and a good culture might do the trick. Of course I’m biased, but I sincerely doubt that mere knife control is a definitive, long-term solution for keeping everyone safe.
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I think this is where my mindset rests as well. Crimes committed against others (violent or otherwise) are generally symptoms of underlying issues. Until the root causes of these sorts of actions are addressed and mitigated to the greatest extent possible (you'll never remove ALL crime or harmful behavior), any restrictions placed on a basic tool like a knife are just band-aids, but with questionable effect at best. Ideally, a society wouldn't require such restrictions. Honestly, I feel the same about the vast majority of gun laws...

I'd rather see systems and efforts designed to help people become better people, rather than a system intended to solely punish them. Although, I feel that kind of sweeping radical social change is a bit too optimistic to hope for, at least in my lifetime.
 
not2sharp not2sharp and J jackknife I'm not too sure how serious you guys were about capital and corporal punishment, but I would guess it would precipitate a culture shift, if it were used as a matter of course and not just as a one time scare tactic in the hopes of creating a culture shift. But it's a scary idea because any precedent that government uses to effect an outcome is liable to expanding in scope.
 
Pmurt Dlanod said:
These looks like a good topic for the political forum.
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If you want to talk about it there, you are welcome to start a thread. This thread hasn't gotten that far.

ETA: I also thought at first it belonged in Knife Laws, not GKD, but because it is not a question seeking direction about extant laws, but more a general solicitation of opinion, GKD seems equally as appropriate for the discussion.
 
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