Community Chat

[Isobel Archer]

Due to the increasing number of stabbings in London, they are cracking down on knives.

NO home deliveries of knives are allowed.  Police can now stop and search anyone they believe may be carrying a knife.

London's mayor Khan tweeted: "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."

Interestingly Khan previously stopped stop and frisk activities as he deemed them "racist" and "Islamophobic."

Parliament is being asked to consider harsh knife laws - including prohibiting all online sales of knives.

This is in response to an increase in murders in London - which now surpasses those in New York City 

First guns - now knives.  What will be next?

[cherry]

I hope it's acid. Women and men, have been brutally attacked with it

[Eileen in Virginia]

So, if you can’t carry a knife and they want to ban online knife sales, how are you supposed to equip your kitchen? If I have my knives sharpened at my favorite kitchen store, do I need a pass to get them there and home? Not to make light of their problem, but they need to give this more thought. 

[Isobel Archer]

Home deliveries of acid are banned now too.  Not sure exactly what that includes.

Interestingly, the article didn't say that knife - or acid - sales in stores are now banned.  And I don't know how the new rules will affect restaurant owners - or even those who cook at home -  who may need to replace knives.  

It's definitely an interesting development.

[Isobel Archer]

---

@Eileen in Virginia wrote:

So, if you can’t carry a knife and they want to ban online knife  , how are you supposed to equip your kitchen? If I have my knives sharpened at my favorite kitchen store, do I need a pass to get them there and home? Not to make light of their problem, but they need to give this more thought. 

---

Yes, I wondered that too.

[Oznell]

I saw that item also, @Isobel Archer, and wondered about the far-reaching implications. I wonder about pocket knives and Scout-type knives.  There is an element of what I would call "bossy", nanny-state micro-management in British life, and also Canadian life (with which I am more intimately familiar.)

There are many ways to approach safety and security, and these approaches seem to focus most intensely on only one aspect, to the neglect of others, I believe.

[cherry]

from the Guardian

Young people who commit violence offences should be banned from using social media such as YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram, according to the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on knife crime.

Speaking before the launch of the government’s new serious violence strategy, the MP Sarah Jones urged the extension of criminal behaviour orders (CBOs) to give courts the power to ban individuals from using social media.

Senior officers are concerned that online content on YouTube and other sites is helping fuel the current knife crime and gun epidemic – last month was the bloodiest in London for nearly a decade. Yet tech companies are refusing to remove some content despite requests from the police.

[Carmie]

I just read where their gun crime rate has gone up 42% too and the country does not allow citizens to own or carry guns.

No matter how hard they try to enforce them, criminals ignore them.  Only the good honest citizens obey the laws and they have no way to protect themselves from the criminals.

It makes you wonder, what the heck is wrong with people?   Our world is not a safe place, anywhere.

[SahmIam]

If you want or need sharp knives, you drive to a store and buy them. People did this all the time before online ordering so, no big deal.

Steak knives are not found in public eateries. Scissors are not found in schools, btw. There is a movement to bring back "dangerous play" at schools and playgrounds (climbing trees, building with planks and bricks, etc) to counteract all the safety measures the UK took over the years.

Bottom line: if a person wants to harm someone, they WILL find a way. Anything can be made into a deadly object with the intent to harm. Anything.