UK Knife Amnesty

[Hyperspeed]

The reason we have amnesties in the UK is just for the police to estimate what exactly they're up against.

The last gun amnesty was designed to get the air pistols out of circulation that could be modified to take real bullets - they ended up with a skip full of Uzis, magnums and an anti-tank gun from WW2!

The knife amnesty gathered up hundreds of thousands of knives, of which most were a little more potent than a breadknife. For example - flick-knives, Rambo-style hunting knives, samurai swords, bayonets, and ninja paraphernalia.

I'd rather my chances with a screwdriver or curvy cheese knife than the above!

:laughing:

[Hyperspeed]

by X-ray:
I put it to you that most, if not all of those weapons were handed in by individuals who had no intention to use them in a crime.

No intention to use them in a crime? With knives, the crime is using them in an argument. Nobody robs a bank with a knife, you can't snipe people down with a knife and normal police on the street are fairly well protected against knife attack.

The crime would only occur if the individual felt threatened enough to pull the knife, it would rarely be used for indiscriminate killing (although the threat to use one in a mugging might be an exception).

Knives are a defensive tool and can be resorted to with ease as opposed to the more difficult diplomatic route in a confrontation.

The general purging of knives out of circulation can be productive.

Master criminals may be able to get hold of knives with ease but taking them out of circulation certainly makes it harder for the teenage gang members.

Although, depending on the roughness of the area a broken bottle, screwdriver etc. can be equally as offensive in close quarters.

Nobody butters their toast with a Rambo knife and it's very design and ergonomics such killing. They're more effective at quick and multiple kills and most importantly they're expensive. By taking these off the street you're destabilising the criminal economy - they have to spend more of their own money to 'tool up' to this specification.

[Hyperspeed]

Well the Rambo style knife (Gerber?) will still be popular due to it's aggresive styling and prestige. These are the knives you see coming out of the amnesty bins, not the serated carrot choppers.

I've never seen a flick knife/switchblade sold in a shop before.

As I said, there is only one use for a Rambo knife and that is killing - nobody butters toast, cuts cheese or peels potatoes with a Rambo knife, therefore their reduction in numbers can only be a good thing.

Apparently it is perfectly legal to carry a knife if it's use to the individual's trade can be proven, like a carpenter etc. So where would a Swiss Army Knife come into this...

... there's one or two people in this world I'd like to murder with a hoof cleaner or a corkscrew!

[Hyperspeed]

by X-ray:
Exactly, that proves my point. You aren't seeing the typical knives used in stabbings because the criminals aren't handing them in.
I think you need to spend some time in an A&E department to see what sort of stab wounds we get. You seem to be applying observations you have seen in action movies to a real problem.

I can understand someone of a forensics line being able to, but how do you differentiate between flick-knife wounds and those of a similar width kitchen knife?

Flick knives are a regular feature in amnesty bins too.

I do believe however that the law should really crack down on martial arts shops and these tacky market stalls that sell samurai swords next to pot pourri.

:-D

Maybe it would be better for criminals to be given compulsory martial arts lessons instead of a lengthy prison term for knife carrying - after all, insecurity is not a crime (it's a failure of local law enforcement).

[Hyperspeed]

I don't know why you cling onto the 'Rambo' example I gave. There are plenty of other hunting knives, made by Gerber for example, that have a very aggresive and tribal design and yet fold up into something similar in size to a cigarette lighter.

I take it you are based in South Africa right? A country where white people feed black people to lions and have flame throwers fitted to their cars...

:laughing:

Where there is abject poverty I suppose cheap weapons will do, but in those circumstances so will a broken bottle. You say that of those 22 stabbings only 2 were carried out by the same person - could this be because the weapon used was a crude knife like the one above? Imagine if the snapped blade in your photograph had been a stainless steel hunting knife... would the attacker have been encouraged to lunge again, possibly attacking others?

This is why some US states allow you to own an Uzi 9mm providing it isn't capable of automatic fire. The potential for mass murder and effective killing is reduced.

So wouldn't taking say 20,000 knives of all types be a good thing in that it forces those who wish to carry to use something that is probably going to bend, snap, get stuck, rust or tear their testicles off when they tie their shoe laces?

:-D :-D :-D

[Hyperspeed]

by X-ray:
I am not based in SA, but I am South African. As to the rest of your drivel, I suggest you pull your head out of your rectum and attempt to engage in an adult conversation rather than being a perpetual moron.

:-D

A perpetual moron sounds like something NASA scientists worked on and George.W.Bush was the end product.

;-)

I'm not trying to irritate you X-ray, just argue out the possibilities.

I'm sure many of us have seen the aweful stabbing scene in Saving Private Ryan and take a very dim view of knives, aggression and war in general.

Maybe the answer to getting knives off the streets is more awkward than guns but I stand by my philosophy that 'every little helps'.

I'm also a great believer that kids get hooked on weapons from an early age, why when I was a young 'un I remember going to a fishing shop and seeing all the knives, catapults, guns etc. and it didn't take long to work out a way of buying them. Childrens' toy shops are also filled with toy guns, swords etc.

Maybe this generation is beyond help but future generations might be steered away from weapons simply with controls on toys, television and the availability of Hollywood movies.

And martial arts aren't just a good way to defend yourself, they could play an important role in male self esteem, constructive time use and most importantly the burning off of testosterone (the war hormone!).

:-)