No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.
Seriously….”...there is never a reason to carry a knife.” Lets extend that logic and cut down the number of deaths by drunk drivers and say ” there’s never a reason to be able to purchase, consume or possess more then a single 12 oz can of beer each day”. And when we talk about stop and frisk laws being discriminatory, if it’s determined a rash of crimes are being committed by short, obese, red haired, older white men with a limp…. PROFILE THEM ALL!!
What should further scare the entire UK populous is the following: “The U.K. government is expected to introduce a ban on online knife sales and home knife deliveries, declare it “illegal to possess zombie knives and knuckledusters in private” — “zombie knives” are those defined as being manufactured for the purpose of being used as a person-to-person weapon..”
Does this proposal infer that you can possess a “zombie” knife in public but not in private? And what in the hell defines a “person-to-person weapon”? Fair warning to our British friends, that phrase “person-to-person weapon” is about as nebulous as the definition of an “assault rifle”. It would seem to this simple mind that if the blade points away from me and toward you, that’s person to person.
Banning online knife sales and home deliveries is nothing short of amazing. So if you live in the countryside and you want to buy your wife a new $10 bread knife from Switzerland, your only option will be to drive 20, 30, 40 miles to a store selling Swiss made bread knives. I would further assume you’ll have to purchase some sort of secure carry case that can be closed, locked and placed in an area of the vehicle which isn’t readily accessible to the occupants of the vehicle. And most probably apply for an import permit.
And while the pols are at it, why not pass some sort of licensing/permit requirement. Maybe 8-10 hours of knife safety training. Another 8-10 hours of legal counseling explaining the rights and limitations of knife ownership. Further regulate how sharp you can keep your knives. Possibly require a locked drawer in the kitchen where you store them. Better yet, have some sort of central government storage facility to keep your larger kitchen knives secure and only release them to you for the holidays or special occasion under close monitoring. And of course, regulate how many knives you can purchase each year.
I have absolutely no doubt the miscreants currently creating mayhem with knives will immediately comply with all elements of the new laws. Beam me up Scotty, there’s no intelligent life down here.
While I make these comments tongue in cheek it’s not a laughing matter. We saw a ban on switchblade knives in a knee jerk reaction to a Broadway play decades ago. Today, we have the gang members of MS-13 gaining notoriety for using knives and machetes to murder and mutilate their victims. I’ll predict it’s a matter of time and we’ll see tougher knife laws revisited in the US to “combat crime”.
This past week we heard about the city of Deerfield, IL, pass a law banning the sale or possession of the dreaded “assault weapon” and large capacity magazines within the city. Failure to surrender said weapon will result in a $1000 per DAY fine. My read of the law says that would include my old Remington .22 with a ‘fixed’ tube magazine that will hold around 12 rounds of 22 shorts.
And just about the time I’m getting my blood pressure under control, I read the headline about gun control fanatic New York Mayor DeBlasio’s top aide getting arrested for possession .... Any bets this “high level Deputy Director” gets to walk? I’m sure it was just a ‘mistake’ and of course someone in her high level of responsibility is exempt from this type of prosecution. People of wealth, power and position need not be concerned.
John, my friend…. good luck to you. I’d encourage you to move to this side of the Atlantic but I’m afraid we’re on the same slippery slope here.
