Why certain types of knives are banned in certain countries?

D

damib

Joined
Jul 7, 2021
Messages
119
Hello,
I've been recently thinking about knife laws in certain countries. My question is straightforward. Why would anybody ban some knife types (OTFs etc...) if they are sometimes quite expensive or not really more dangerous in terms of possible damage? I get that you can probably hide them better and operate with them way faster, but I don't really know any petty thief that would buy 1000 dollar OTF and professional assassin would probably be able to make it's own knife regardless of the laws. There are of course other types of knives that are heavily restricted in many areas like gravity, ballistic and assisted opening knives.
 
The usual reasons-

Ignorance.

Hysteria.

Fear of an armed, and possibly angry or revolution-prone public.

Politics. Trying to convince the public that they, the politicians, are protecting the public from criminals armed with evil knives.

Basically the belief that such knives are favored by the dirty, violent underclass (again, fear, ignorance, hysteria, politics, and possibly racism).
 
Basically because the idea of it was extra scary to some ignorant politician somewhere, it seems extra deadly on paper and sadly that's often all it takes to get something banned.

It's very easy to push the theoretical danger of something that seems bad on paper if they have enough decision makers who let emotion bias them.

Maybe the politicians are just ignorant or they have ulterior motives, but it happens regardless.
 
One of the most silly bans is throwing stars. I mean, all knife bans are silly, but this takes the cake. A lot of the places that ban these allow throwing knives, so what is the difference? When was the last time a ninja went out and starred a bunch of people to death?

Czech Republic is one of the few countries in the world that kept its sanity and never banned any type of knife or melee weapon. Glad the people and politicians there don’t fall for the hysteria like so many nations do.
 
Danke42 said:
Those knives all open with one hand so very dangerous. Also if kids get them they'll be inspired to quit their jobs and join a violence gang.
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Banning a knife because it opens with one hand is so freakin ableist. It’s assuming that only thugs and criminals use these types of knives all the while ignoring that there are people out there with one hand or arm or have a disability that only allows them to use one hand. Seriously! Why don’t they ever consider this? I have lots more I want to say about the morons who have written these laws over the years, but it’s not appropriate for a “family friendly” forum.
 
Knife_Collector_101 said:
One of the most silly bans is throwing stars. I mean, all knife bans are silly, but this takes the cake. A lot of the places that ban these allow throwing knives, so what is the difference? When was the last time a ninja went out and starred a bunch of people to death?

Czech Republic is one of the few countries in the world that kept its sanity and never banned any type of knife or melee weapon. Glad the people and politicians there don’t fall for the hysteria like so many nations do.
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Yep, I am glad I live there :).

We had some controversy about ballistic knives though. One knifemaker started making ballistic knives and his design was really ingenious. It worked perfectly until tragedy happened at some event during presentation. It was classified class A weapon/firearm (full auto rifles/machine guns l, silencers, thermovision optics etc...) back then because it wasn't expected for knife to shoot and the Force was over 150 N making it essentially a firearm(I am not exactly sure how much Newtons 🤔). The knifemaker was ordered to destroy all knives he had. No one hunted down already sold knives though, so you can find them in auctions but they are kinda pricy. Not Microtech OTF pricy but still. The knifemaker never returned to making those knives even though law changed. It's just very sad and unfortunate story, you know.

It was later found out by group of doctors in one (non-czech) article investigating accidental death of someone that very good ballistic knife with force like that can shoot through human skull enough to cause really bad consequences so the surely are not toys to play with.
 
Knife_Collector_101 said:
Banning a knife because it opens with one hand is so freakin ableist. It’s assuming that only thugs and criminals use these types of knives all the while ignoring that there are people out there with one hand or arm or have a disability that only allows them to use one hand. Seriously! Why don’t they ever consider this?
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This is a really good point, and reiterates the culture of inconsiderateness that has been overtaking the world. And to my shame, I didn't even think of this angle until it was pointed out, which just shows my complicity in allowing such thoughts to persist. But now that you mention it, I will certainly keep this point in mind for future conversations I have with people about one handed knife bans.
 
Because laws are made by people without a clue what they are deciding. In Belgium they outlawed 5.7×28mm because the left wing governement thought they could shoot thrue "bulletproof vests" and these where copkiller bullets. This is an ammunition invented in Belgium and FN made a lot of money selling these weapons to the rest of the world. What the governement never realised that Belgium was flooded with illegal AK47's from the former Eastern Bloc countries at the same time and these shot thrue the same "bulletproof" vests! If you read the law you realise this law has been written by someone from the green party with no clue about firearms or cartridge design. Shortsighted laws to please their voters with no knowledge whatsoever about the subject. Same with knifelaws. The knifelaws in Belgium are Draconian in the sense that every knife is forbidden unless you have a lawfull reason for carrying it. Even worse...every object you take in hand to commit a crime becomes a weapon...whatever the object. A sugar cube, a carrot, a car, a pebble.....
 
Jim malone said:
Even worse...every object you take in hand to commit a crime becomes a weapon...whatever the object. A sugar cube, a carrot, a car, a pebble.....
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Same here. But I don't care because I am not exactly someone who commits crime or plans on commiting a crime.

I get that complaint about the ammo though. No one gets a gun permit and buys a gun for bunch of money because he wants to commit crime. That is really stupid. I understand that someone could probably sell the gun to some criminals but it always has to be registered and selling a gun, even losing a gun is serious crime punishable by few years in prison. I know that some of this selling may have been done in the Army but that's completely different topic typical mainly for former eastern block countries in 90's.
 
Fear is often irrational, and I think a lot of people have an irrational fear of autos for the very same reason that switchblade aficionados love them- because they open fast, in a flash, with just the push of a button, or press of a slide.

My sister is a perfect example of this irrational fear. She loves to shoot, and has no problem whatsoever handling loaded firearms. But when she comes for a visit, and asks me what I've been up to, and I offer her one of my switchblades to examine, she recoils as if I was handing her a live rattlesnake. She says "NO! Get that thing away from me!". Won't even touch one. But yet she has no fear of other knives.

I think there's something about the way switchblades just seem to come alive that triggers a primal fear in some people. Like the fear of a snake biting.

Fears don't have to make a lot of sense to be a powerful motivating force. That's the nature of fear, and often the nature of mankind.
 
Jim malone said:
Even worse...every object you take in hand to commit a crime becomes a weapon...whatever the object. A sugar cube, a carrot, a car, a pebble.....
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Well, that is a good law, at least as stated in your quote.
 
That law makes it possible for LEO to arrest you on the basis of what hou have in your possesion. Oh you have a bottle in your hand. That is a weapon.. ah a shovel or a wrench in your car? Probably a weapon. A pocket knife? What is your legal reason to carry it? Do you work as a butcher? Are you scuba diving atm? Are you hunting? No? Busted for carrying an illegal weapon! They once arrested a bunch of Sikh because they all grown men wear daggers as part of their religion! The Sikh had to take the case to a higher court to prove the dagger was part of their religious belief! They got convicted in the lower courts because the judge did not believe they had a valid reason to carry the ceremonial daggers!
 
I'm not saying it's good that it gets abused, but if it were applied equitably, it would make sense.
 
I see. Well in Canada there are two types: forbidden, and the kind you can carry all day without reason. But the Criminal Code of Canada has a provision that says a weapon is anything designed, used, or intended, in injuring, maiming, killing, or intimidating another person. And I think it is a good law.
 
Jim malone said:
That law makes it possible for LEO to arrest you on the basis of what hou have in your possesion. Oh you have a bottle in your hand. That is a weapon.. ah a shovel or a wrench in your car? Probably a weapon. A pocket knife? What is your legal reason to carry it? Do you work as a butcher? Are you scuba diving atm? Are you hunting? No? Busted for carrying an illegal weapon! They once arrested a bunch of Sikh because they all grown men wear daggers as part of their religion! The Sikh had to take the case to a higher court to prove the dagger was part of their religious belief! They got convicted in the lower courts because the judge did not believe they had a valid reason to carry the ceremonial daggers!
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I think that the problem is more about the people than about the law itself. As was stated a few times above. Fear or hysteria is often irrational and sometimes leads people to do immoral things. I have heard that it's pretty bad in Belgium nowadays but never imagined that it was bad to the level of abusing law.
 
Just an FYI here in California there are exceptions for disabled people.
I don't know if you need a special card or something, but as far as I know these exceptions do exist in some capacity.


The real issue is when they ban some kind of folding knife that's " faster " while still allowing a fixed blade that's potentially faster or vise versa.
When you can't have a fixed blade in your pocket no matter how small but can have as large of a folder as you want.

I sure wish they would at least just come down to a size limit for fixed blades that can be " concealed ", and I only say this because a little is all they'd ever give if at all.
Of course no knife laws save anybody or have basis in reality and I'd like to see none, but being realistic I can at least hope for just a little give back.
 
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