A....amnesty for knives!

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I think the point is that flick knifes are easier to conceal. Carrying a kitchen knife in your hip pocket would most likely result in some injuries that aren't really worth contemplating.

[Crazed Rabbit]

The funny thing is they say that carrying knives for protection is bad, because you might get the knife used against you.
However, that would require that someone attack you in the first place.
And if there was a good chance of them using your knife against you, then I fail to see how not having a knife will help you.

Oh well.

Crazed Rabbit

[scooter_the_shooter]

If it is so easy to take a knife from some one....just take it back

[Duke Malcolm]

Cathie Jameson (the Scottish Justice Minister, don't you know) goes up in arms about knives...
The Tayside Police HQ has had 30 knives given up and calls it a success when 30 people in my year at school most likely have knives, and there are numerous other years in my school, and that have left my school, and there are many other schools in the city...
It is not effective, those who carry knives will not give them up...

[Husar]

The funny thing is they say that carrying knives for protection is bad, because you might get the knife used against you.
However, that would require that someone attack you in the first place.
And if there was a good chance of them using your knife against you, then I fail to see how not having a knife will help you.

Oh well.

Crazed Rabbit

The point is that when you carry a knife and some body-building robber comes along, wants to rob you and you take your knife out, being scared as hell, he can either grab the knife or your hand and use the knife against you.
In many cases this happens just because you wanted to defend yourself with a knife and if you had no knife, he had taken your money and went away without harming you.

Now you can argue with all sorts of crap, but fact is that the average Joe who runs around with a knife does not know how to defend himself with it and that´s why such things happen.

[scooter_the_shooter]

Sorry about the gun example but....in america we pratice drills and such with our guns for self defence(there are even games made out of it like idpa), why can't the brits do this with knives?

[A.Saturnus]

Sorry about the gun example but....in america we pratice drills and such with our guns for self defence(there are even games made out of it like idpa), why can't the brits do this with knives?

Don't know but I think they have courses there where you can learn how defend yourself against people who attack you with fruits and vegetables.

"...and now: I'm eating the banana!"

[scooter_the_shooter]

Don't know but I think they have courses there where you can learn how defend yourself against people who attack you with fruits and vegetables.

"...and now: I'm eating the banana!"

huh? IDPA is short for international defenseive pistol. Ya' run through different drills and scenarios. Who ever score the best in the least amount of time wins.

[English assassin]

A switch blade would be illegal. But a one handed opener would not?

Yeah, its a bit arbitrary but it doesn't really cause any serious confusion. Flick and gravity knives are illegal per se. I guess one handed openers are not because of the difficulty in definition.

Truth be told, most thugs do not walk about tooled up, for fear of stop and search. Their knives are usually hidden in a nearby hedge or something. But that's not a reason to allow them to have them in their pockets.

I don't really know why they have these amnesties, since even if you do have a "combat knife" (which are prefectly lawful to buy and own, just not advertsise as such), if you decide your knife carrying days are over why not just put it in the attic? Or indeed, in the rubbish, since that would be lawful too. Can the amnesty be nothing more than a photo opportunity to convince us the government is "doing something" about knife crime?

I'm jolly glad they took that bat'leth off the streets though, I don't know about the rest of the country but round my way you can barely step out of doors without being assaulted by teenagers carrying mild steel copies of unweildy fantasy weapons.

[Husar]

Sorry about the gun example but....in america we pratice drills and such with our guns for self defence(there are even games made out of it like idpa), why can't the brits do this with knives?

Maybe because the thief can practice there just as well(if he isn´t known to be a thief) and because trained people with guns being everywhere will make thieves eager to get guns to get an edge over all those dangerous knife-swinging people out there. I´d rather give some unarmed thief my 20€ from my pocket than have a gunfight with some heavily armed gangster and maybe lose my family and my life in the process.
And keep in mind that on the street, you won´t have a lot of time to get your weapon out anyway, the robber may come from behind, catching you completely unaware, a completely unarmed society will also make the thief/robber/attacker less likely to use violence if he just wants money, because he knows there won´t be a lot of resistance. Sometimes it´s better to accept that resistance is futile than to die IMO.

And I really, really don´t think everybody who robs someone else deserves death, otherwise your death rows should be completely filled with software pirates...

[Justiciar]

Police Seek Klingon For Questioning

A police knife amnesty appears to have got off to a flying start with even alien criminals giving up their arms in the face of stern looks from the local bobby. The national initiative, which began yesterday and continues until 30 June, is predicted to see 30,000 illegal blades turned over to authorities with no questions asked. Most surprising, though, was the unexpected surrender of a Klingon bat'leth.


The traditional melee weapon of Klingon warriors, the bat'leth has struck fear into the hearts of countless alien races, wielded to deadly effect by those loyal to the great Klingon Empire. The long history of the weapon dates back to the days of Kahless the Unforgettable, who, as the legend goes, dropped a lock of his hair into lava from the Kri'stak Volcano, and then plunged the fiery lock into the lake of Lursor and twisted it to form a blade.

The seized bat'leth is pictured in the custody of a stern-faced police officer and ran in today's Metro alongside the caption 'A policeman with a 5ft blade designed to decapitate victims and seized by officers ahead of the knife amnesty'. It seems both the local constabulary and the daily newspaper need to better familiarise themselves with popular science fiction.

A suspect has been taken into custody over the seizure* and police have released this likeness of the man being questioned. When asked for a statement by authorities, the suspect is reported to have declared: "QaplH ponDu 'ooe'ml SoeHQ Ke'bl jllspl Dlavtl!"



*this part may be a lie.