No offence taken
I was just intending to forewarn our buddies from elsewhere about the possible knife-related pitfalls in the UK on the grounds that it is better to be safe than sorry
I see that you're right about the 3" limit being the cutting edge (presumably this means you could have a foot-long folding marlin spike and still be within the law
and you obviously couldn't do any damage with that!). However, if you are stopped, I reckon that, at the side of the road, measurement would be a bit rough and ready and you could easily be arrested by an overzealous/uninformed plod (and if you are arrested you get fingerprinted and DNA and photographs are taken and kept, forever) and potentially waste several hours or even days sorting it out -- great if you're on holiday
.
Also, regarding being stopped, I'm white, British, middle-class, middle-aged, articulate and polite, and so unlikely to be stopped. I'd be less sanguine if I was a 17-year-old Asian lad, if you see what I mean. Meaning no disrespect to the boys in blue, they seem obliged to use what looks like "racial profiling" to meet targets (read some UK coppers' blogs for more on this).
Worse is the use of "airport-style scanners" in railway stations (and even on the streets in some force areas
) and the news today that the Met have cameras that use (classified) millimetre-wave radar technology, which can "see through clothing" apparently. If you get copped by one of these methods and you're carrying an (even slightly) illegal blade I think they will arrest you and your good excuse had better be more persuasive than "I forgot it was there" or "I need it to cut string, clean my ears, etc.". If you mention the idea of self-defence (a criminal act in the UK, one could almost believe), you'd better like prison food.
Sorry to be such a Cassandra Freeze, but that's the way I see it . . .
[btw, aren't Imperial and US inches the same
I was just intending to forewarn our buddies from elsewhere about the possible knife-related pitfalls in the UK on the grounds that it is better to be safe than sorry I see that you're right about the 3" limit being the cutting edge (presumably this means you could have a foot-long folding marlin spike and still be within the law
and you obviously couldn't do any damage with that!). However, if you are stopped, I reckon that, at the side of the road, measurement would be a bit rough and ready and you could easily be arrested by an overzealous/uninformed plod (and if you are arrested you get fingerprinted and DNA and photographs are taken and kept, forever) and potentially waste several hours or even days sorting it out -- great if you're on holiday .Also, regarding being stopped, I'm white, British, middle-class, middle-aged, articulate and polite, and so unlikely to be stopped. I'd be less sanguine if I was a 17-year-old Asian lad, if you see what I mean. Meaning no disrespect to the boys in blue, they seem obliged to use what looks like "racial profiling" to meet targets (read some UK coppers' blogs for more on this).
Worse is the use of "airport-style scanners" in railway stations (and even on the streets in some force areas
) and the news today that the Met have cameras that use (classified) millimetre-wave radar technology, which can "see through clothing" apparently. If you get copped by one of these methods and you're carrying an (even slightly) illegal blade I think they will arrest you and your good excuse had better be more persuasive than "I forgot it was there" or "I need it to cut string, clean my ears, etc.". If you mention the idea of self-defence (a criminal act in the UK, one could almost believe), you'd better like prison food.Sorry to be such a Cassandra Freeze, but that's the way I see it . . .
[btw, aren't Imperial and US inches the same