Weapons surrendered in UK knife amnesty

5.56X45mm

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More than 17,700 knives, machetes and axes have been handed over to British police in an amnesty on sharp weapons.
Sharp weapons are used in more than a quarter of all homicides in Britain and the amnesty was partly prompted by fears of a growing knife culture in the country.
Authorities say the response in the first week of the amnesty has been encouraging but they have urged more people to turn in their weapons.
A similar amnesty ten years ago led to 40,000 weapons being handed over.
Junior Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker says the turn-in is encouraging but he is urging that more be given up.
"If you carry a knife out of self-defence, you run the risk of having it turned on you," he said.
The amnesty began on May 24 and runs until June 30.
Among a spate of recent fatal stabbings have been those of 15-year-old Kiyan Prince, a promising footballer attacked outside his London school, and part-time policewoman Nisha Patel-Nasri.
Several anti-knife campaigners have said the amnesty will not stop knife crime and demand tougher sentences for carrying weapons.
- ABC/Reuters


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1665250.htm


First the UK outlawed guns, violence went up. Now they are working very hard to outlaw knives. There is a law being debated that would make carrying a knife over 3" a major offence with a 5 year prison term.
 
The only people that are surrending knifes are the people that are least likely to commit a crime with them
 
I first laughed when I heard that a couple of folks wanted to ban pointed knives in thye UK. But now I see this.

I guess the liberals in the UK couldn't of been happy with just banning firearms. So now they're going after the only other means of defense. Knives.

What a shame. I just now this. If crap like that ever happens in Florida or the USA as a whole. I will become an outlaw and make them damn work to disarm me.
 
Oh this is serious... I thought someone was taking the piss. I mean just substitute gun for knife and USA for UK. Its a one size fits all argument. What about long fingernails? The base problem is in people's heads, people will kill with whatever is at hand. Eliminating weapons will not lower homicide rates, it will just make it more of a workout.
 
5.56X45mm said:
I guess the liberals in the UK couldn't of been happy with just banning firearms. So now they're going after the only other means of defense. Knives.

Hi. Just a few of things to throw your way:

If nobody carried knives would you need one for self defence?

The vast majority of people carrying knives have no real clue how to use them.

At close range a knife is probably more deadly than a gun, especially if the latter is holstered with the safety on, i.e. the 21 foot rule.
 
If nobody carried knives would you need one for self defence?

Burglaries? Car-theft attempts? Hostage situations? Those hypothetical examples, and also because the criminals are more likely to not going to give their knives up?

The vast majority of people carrying knives have no real clue how to use them.

Then how is it that they can use such utensils in the consumption of meat? Or for that matter, butchering meat? Or preparing dinner?

At close range a knife is probably more deadly than a gun, especially if the latter is holstered with the safety on, i.e. the 21 foot rule.

Probably? Yes, that is probably true to some rather limited extent. However, a gun is very much likely to be the deadlier weapon, given that you don't need to be standing just a few feet in front of your target to "reach out and touch". That, and people can aim.
 
Pop-a-squat said:
Burglaries? Car-theft attempts? Hostage situations? Those hypothetical examples, and also because the criminals are more likely to not going to give their knives up?
True to a certain extent but the escalation of knife culture is out of control in the UK. It's one thing carrying one for self defence but a different matter when you have gangs of kids walking around, doing what the hell they like and pretty much all of them packing weapons of some sort. In any case you don't need an edged weapon for self defence. There are alternatives.


Pop-a-squat said:
Then how is it that they can use such utensils in the consumption of meat? Or for that matter, butchering meat? Or preparing dinner?
My comments were clearly in the context of self defence, which is what this thread is about. Most people do not know how to use a knife properly in self defence.


Pop-a-squat said:
Probably? Yes, that is probably true to some rather limited extent. However, a gun is very much likely to be the deadlier weapon, given that you don't need to be standing just a few feet in front of your target to "reach out and touch". That, and people can aim.
In the sorts of situations where weapons and self defence come into play, you are talking about in the main close proximity situations. In those situations the knife is probably more deadly, due to how easily they can be deployed and concealed. Plus it's far easier to use a knife as most people use them as an extension of their arm, i.e. no special skills are required.
 
Doppleganger said:
Hi. Just a few of things to throw your way:

If nobody carried knives would you need one for self defence?

The vast majority of people carrying knives have no real clue how to use them.

At close range a knife is probably more deadly than a gun, especially if the latter is holstered with the safety on, i.e. the 21 foot rule.

Have you ever seen a man's head after a massage with two feet of steel chain? I have and couldn't recognize the guy I had known for years. He lived but his looks and mechanical abilities were gone.
 
Good points by a few here. But I agree with the B.S. sentiment. Just because you take my knife away does not mean I can not manufacture some other item that is easily concealed and far more dangerous. It also does not mean that I can not kill you with my bare hands.

For the conspiracy theorists out there: This is all one big sham so that the teachers of unarmed combat and self defense get more customers.

Missileer said it best. Almost anything can be a weapon. So why take the more obvious ones away and leave things to people's imaginations?
 
Yes it's true that many implements can be used as lethal weapons. I think one of the big issues with knives though is how easy they are to conceal, deploy and then conceal again.
 
Great, so if you assault me in the workshop sometime down the road, I can't turn a tire iron on you? Gimme a break. If I have to travel, I have the wallet in the left hip pocket (harder to steal) and a lockback knife in the right hip pocket. I don't want to be a victim.

Tough break for you people in the UK, your right to defend yourself is being steadily quashed. I totally agree with the sentiments of Luis. If you take the weapons away from the criminals, sure, take my rifles and shotguns. But the point is, you'll never get them away from the lawbreakers, and therefore the law-abiding citizens suffer as a result.
 
[This post is "simplified" to avoid getting into trouble with the Moderators]

Point: Everything is a weapon! Therefore, what can be banned?

1. The easy stuff: machine-guns, mines, grenades, bombers, nuclear weapons, etc.

2. The harder stuff: Sports equipment like fishing knives, hunting knives, crossbows, bows, shotguns, rifles, etc.

3. The even-harder stuff: Basic tools like small axes, hammers, chains, nails, steel tubes, pneumatic hammers, etc.

4. The even-harder harder stuff: How about fertilizer and motor oil? Enough said.

5. The impossible stuff: Of course, with a little practice, anyone can make a sharp weapon out of a medium-sized stone. Tie that stone to a stick and you have a spear. Our forefathers made these weapons thousands of years ago. For godsakes, even a stone in natura can be a weapon. Or how about the human hand?


In 1945, the Allies sat down and discussed how to demilitarize German society. The Allied Control Council argued and argued. Some wanted to ban the production of weapons. Others wanted to ban the production of tools or fertilizer. Others wanted to take all swords and lances out of German museums. Ultimately, the program failed because of points 2, 3, and 4.

Banning knives is just a political act. It is a way to convince the public that governments are actually doing something to lessen the dangers brought by certain violent individuals...individuals who can normally purchase real weapons from the less morally responsible people out there.

How do we create a safer society? My idea: how about mutually assured destruction? We convince people that using weapons against other people is not worth it...the threat of retribution should be far greater than any benefit gained.

Arms control/demilitarization is in the brain and not in the hand.

[The idea that people and not weapons kill is a banality...but one that must be stated over and over again]
 
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Ace said:
This is turning out to be an "weapons dont kill, people do" thread...

It is true. A weapon is a tool. It has no mind of it's own. When a person picks a weapon up and uses it, then and only then does it become lethal.
 
I think the counter to our argument MarineR is that some weapons make it easier to go from impulse to action and that by making it harder to kill it requires more thought and hence more time for someone to think better of it. I disagree that this will do anything in that the impulse to kill is a strong and lasting emotion once aroused in a human or other animal. Some are more prone to it and should have their access to weapons reduced once demonstrated but those who are weaker by gender or age should have full and ready access to these weapons to equal the playing field as alluded to by Missileer in another thread.

This is why I taught my wife how to shoot, when we return to the US she will be heeled when out alone. I have always carried, grocery store, work, weekend drives in the country. Bad things happen and I would rather have to possibly see a counselor for ending someone else's life than visit a cemetary to visit a family member. I use my brain first to try and avoid these situations and I am constantly profiling EVERYONE within 50m of me, even here in China. Here I have no right to carry a firearm but my Gerber multi-tool and Bortag collapsible baton are fine. At times I have rolled up a magazine I was carrying... like Ollie said ANYTHING can be a weapon.

This is another misguided attempt to cure the cancer by covering the mole. The hate and lack of respect for human life is the core issue and until THAT is fixed people will continue to kill people with whatever they can lay their hands on.
 
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