Knives in the UK...Amnesty

Kismet

Kismet

Joined
Jan 30, 2002
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-5842835,00.html


Tens of thousands of bladed weapons including flick knives, meat cleavers and swords are expected to be handed over in the first UK knife amnesty for 10 years.

The five-week initiative, which runs until June 30, encourages people to hand over knives without the fear of prosecution.

The amnesty is being backed by police forces throughout England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Scotland is running its own amnesty concurrently.

The police urged anyone wishing to hand in a knife to wrap the offending blade in card or paper to avoid injury on delivery.

And so it goes...
 
Next they'll cut down all the dadburn trees, lest anyone should decide to arm themselves with a club. :mad: When will they ever learn that policing objects ain't the same thing as policing behavior?

Sarge
 
You ever try to cut up a chicken with a pair of children's safety scissors? No? Me either but you get the point (or lack of point, they are safety scissors). I guess they better make the move to soft food. After kitchen knives they're going to ask for your teeth. After all, teeth can inflict mild to moderate damage. Come on, who doesn't like porridge?

Frank
 
Stereotypes would have you believe the English diet to be little better than groul anyway. LOL. No loss there.

Doh! That should have just been dots.............
 
aproy1101 said:
Stereotypes would have you believe the English diet to be little better than groul anyway. LOL. No loss there.

Doh! That should have just been dots.............
Click to expand...


Yorkshire pudding is heaven on earth when done right . Who can beat a rich stew inside a pie pastry ?

Spotted Dick , they can keep .
 
Maybe I'm missing something...the cutting implements and tools (weapons to sheeple) are to be turned in without fear of prosecution? So the hard earned money you laid out to procure these tools is now chalked up as a loss? If taxation is similar in the U.K., that means the monies received by the govt. to pay their salaries as they brought this into law was in part subsidized by ELU's? Ironic AND idiotic, if you ask me. I can't wait to see the U.S.'s take on this subject.:mad:
 
Oh, my aunt is a dual citizen (UK, US). My wife is a southerner. Guess whose cooking I don't prefer?
 
It takes a lot of faith to believe that the day will ever dawn again for the downfallen west...

Tom
 
A northern Brit friend on another forum put it this way.

They've got a lot of grunt urban youths who have recently taken to think it's a manly thing to pack a knife, whether they've a use for it or no. Not criminals, just mildly thuggish teens.

Now, in the part of northern England where my friend lives, it's an age-old tradition for such folks to round the week out after closing time on Saturdays with a nice thumping. Everybody gets bruised, loosens the other guy's teeth a bit, then goes home to celebrate. A culture of casual violence, as my friend puts it.

But it's started to happen more frequently that one of the grunts will pull his steak knife out, not sure what to do next. Then the other guy gets his, and someone gets hurt. Or dead. In contrast, their fathers, uncles, and older brothers simply thumped each other, and lived to procreate.

The amnesty is not aimed at taking knives away from law abiding citizens, or collecting them from hardened crooks. But is aimed at reducing the number of casual 23 year old drunks and testosterone-poisoned teens who, for no apparent reason, recently felt the need to take a knife to the bar. Black eyes and cracked ribs being preferable to puncture wounds.

t.
 
Has anybody pondered the following; You can take away all my knives this morning, make it illegal for any of the stores to sell me a new one, and I'll still be happily chopping up meat and veggies this evening with one fresh ground. Knives require no knowledge of rocket science, pryotechnics, or ballistics, and can be quickly fabricated from any serviceable metal to be had. The law should read that it's a crime to attack someone with a knife, or carrying a concealed knife for that purpose, not taking away little old ladies' kitchen cutlery and honest workmen's tools. Good luck in enforcing this latest "public safety concern" Britain. :rolleyes:

Sarge
 
I agree. A sharpened toothbrush, or a ballpoint pen can be lethal ... and even more efficient knives are decidedly low-tech to produce.

I think the answer's more to do with addressing the culture of casual violence that makes it acceptable to walk around with intent in the first place.

t.
 
When they pry the blade out of my cold dead hands, I'll just go home and make another. This is just another variation of the "nanny" culture that is taking over Western Civilization.
 
Is absolutley indefensible.
A 'casual culture of violence' that encourages young men attacking each other after the bars close seems morally bankrupt to me. If I'm attacked outside a bar you had better believe I have every damn right to defend myself with a weapon.
This 'casual culture' encourages the criminal act and yet wants to criminalize the tool that , in many cases, is being legitimately used to protect the user.

Words fail me.
 
That sort of surrender to street thugs is appalling. Was there any legal repercussions for those who assaulted you?
I've seen exactly one knife fight in my life. It was mildly amusing then and an absolute howler to me now. Two gentlemen who might have been homeless got into a shouting match after midnite in an outdooor mall. One drew a knife and started waving it around. The other did likewise. They both then attempted to slash each other and made such outrageous, almost exagerated, sweeping cuts that I thought it might be some kind of staged play. If a blade came closer than a foot to bare skin during that fight I'd eat my hat. It seems that neither was really interested in settling the issue with the actual spilling of blood. Once they were too shagged out to continue and honor had been served they ran into the night.
To this day it brings me a chuckle.
 
It's police bonus time around here, they pick out the good 'uns from the 'amnesty' and sell them on ebay....

it's not illegal to own most of them, so i'm not sure why anyone would turn them in in the first place, balisongs, push daggers, gravity knives, sword canes, switchblades and a couple more specific types are banned from sale, trade, loan, or carry, but can be kept around the house if owned from before the law took effect (1988) but you can carry a three inch max non-locking blade without worry, or a bigger locking/fixed one if you have a reasonable excuse (which you may need to argue in court from your holding cell if the police are being unfreindly)

there've been about 15,000 turned in so far & the police are overjoyed at their huge success in getting the evil weapons out of circulation (see para. 1) and showing the huge fantasy hibben-style pseudo-weapons on the TV news to let us know what evil items are being turned in. of course most of the 15,000 are steak knives, stanley knives, and linoleum cutters.

people who want to collect knives, or engage in hunting, fishing, or target shooting are to be considered abnormal, best educate that out of society.

we are being edjumacated into believing that all items are considered 'offensive' weapons and that there is no legitimate need for anyone to defend themselves. after all , that's what the police are for , isn't it.

of course the police don't think they are there to defend anyone, they are there to record statistics, fill out forms, as long after the fact as possible. after all , they might get hurt, they're unarmed you see. there is no statutory requirement for police to actually intercede to stop a crime, or even to attend afterwards! after all, on the occasions they do, they get roasted by the press for excess violence, and get sued, or fired by politicians, and all kinds of similar dis-incentives. better to be safe, and only raid law-abiding people's homes, it's safer, after all they've turned in all their guns and knives. raiding criminals homes is dangerous as they can defend themselves - best send in 250 armed swat team members with itchy trigger fingers to arrest suspects.

our courts of course, protect us from the criminals that manage to get caught (of course YOU may be a criminal for carrying an 'offensive' weapon, like a cane in a threatening manner). they are punished to the full extent of the law, like the farm owner who was jailed for three years for shooting a poor almost defenseless burglar (he only had a baseball bat), or the guy who was just sentanced to life for kidnapping and rapeing a three year old girl, who is eligable for parole in four years.
 
TomFetter said:
Now, in the part of northern England where my friend lives, it's an age-old tradition for such folks to round the week out after closing time on Saturdays with a nice thumping. Everybody gets bruised, loosens the other guy's teeth a bit, then goes home to celebrate. A culture of casual violence, as my friend puts it.
Click to expand...

is this the same culture that features broken pint glass bar fights, maiming and mutilation, and death from bleedouts and people being held down for a little cutting up? and trying to ban the thick thich solid pint glass in favor of cheap wussy almost sugar glass? yeah.

knives, rocks, sticks, frozen water. all kinds of weapons to ban.

bladite
 
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