UK decides pointed knives are too dangerous...

wroughtn_harv · May 28, 2005

( Using their logic, I can club a person to death with a good heavy book. Lets outlaw books. Is that not scary?

Some people trained in fighting skills can kill easily with their bare hands. Lets outlaw hands. )

Reminds me of an old joke involving an upset father, the son of a carpenter, the son of a blacksmith, and the son of a lollypop maker. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

And it's just about as silly.

Dargo · May 28, 2005

( The conservatives feel threatened. )

Nah, unless you come after me with a knife. Then I'll have to run, or remember where I hid that assult rifle. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

( They ought to be more concerned about how much makeup their mother wore before and during their pregnancy. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

(for the unknowing there's been a link discovered between a chemical in women's makeup and genital malfunction in their male offspring) )

Whew! My mother must not have worn any makeup. I have 5 kids!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Junkman · May 28, 2005

( ..................

(for the unknowing there's been a link discovered between a chemical in women's makeup and genital malfunction in their male offspring)

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

There are lots of things that women do to there bodies such as dying there hair that can lead to cancers and other things. It isn't reported in the womens magazines because the advertisers don't want the bad press. The same with television and radio.
In MA, you can be arrested for "assault with a deadly weapon", and that weapon can be a pencil, a gun, your open hand, a foot with a shoe on it, it doesn't matter. Any assault that they want to get the maximum penalty for, they call an assault with a deadly weapon. It is the way that the legislators write the laws to cover the broadest set of circumstances. It doesn't have to make sense or be reasonable, it just has to pass the legislature to take effect... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

daedong · May 29, 2005

for the unknowing there's been a link discovered between a chemical in women's makeup and genital malfunction in their male offspring 

Harv

I think women have planed this, cospiracy at its best.

MossRoad · May 30, 2005

I they would just outlaw opposable thumbs we wouldn't have all these problems.

RoyJackson · May 30, 2005

( I they would just outlaw opposable thumbs we wouldn't have all these problems. )

I think the Brits are going to regret you suggested that!

PhilNH5 · May 30, 2005

I think the heading of this thread paints to broad a swath. The United Kingdom did not decide that knives are dangerous - a group of researchers made the suggestion. Happens all the time. Just the fact that it is odd gets it picked up by the media.

In NJ a state legislature proposes changing the name of the Jersey Devils. The article is
at Yahoo News
Should we assume a broad base support on behalf of the population of NJ? Not likely. Just one person making news.

In both cases - much ado about nothing

Phil

Bob_Skurka · May 30, 2005

Phil, while you are technically correct they have not already outlawed the long pointed knives, the article states they have already outlawed "The manufacture, sale and importation of 17 bladed, pointed and other offensive weapons have been banned, in addition to flick knives and gravity knives." 

I'd say they are well on their way.

And Harv, interesting comment about the concervatives feeling threatened. I personally don't feel threatened at all. But it is interesting to me how a nation that we Amercians think is so similar to our own is actually culturally quite different than our own. Just like their use of tractors is so vastly different than ours, with new modern CUTs being almost a non-existant % of their tractor market and larger tractors being used on very small properties. Similar but different. That is why I found the thread interesting. Didn't even consider the politics of it but I did consider the cultural aspect of both the governments view and the general populace's view interesting.

PBinWA · May 30, 2005

My wife and I discussed this article as we were cutting a huge watermelon open yesterday.

I suspect that the Watermelon sales in the UK are non-existent.

Allright everyone, get your biggest Watermelon and try cutting it up with a 4 inch blunt tipped knife.

Any attempt to legislate common sense or control the tools used by criminals is a bad idea. Punish the person responsible for the crime not the equipment used to commit the crime.

PhilNH5 · May 30, 2005

( "The manufacture, sale and importation of 17 bladed, pointed and other offensive weapons have been banned, in addition to flick knives and gravity knives." )

Bob,
The above quote is nebulous at best. We in the USA have simlar laws. I think you are from Illinois. Their law states:
( - 720 ILCS 5/33A-1... A person is considered armed with a
dangerous weapon... when he carries on or about his person
or is otherwise armed with a category I or category II
weapon. (b) A category I weapon is a [firearm or] a knife
with a blade at least 3 inches in length, dagger, dirk,
switchblade knife, stiletto, or any other deadly or
dangerous weapon of like character. )

Here is a quote from a website on knives and the law:
( Even before Congress banned interstate commerce in
switchblade and gravity knives in 1958, in response to media
frenzy about "juvenile delinquency," several states had
already enacted more or less absolute bans within their own
borders. The first was New Jersey, in 1956, followed quickly
by New York. Today about half the states have outright bans
on switchblade knives, while another dozen or so states ban
carry and/or commerce in switchblades. ) The website is http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm

I am not sure what a gravity knife is but it seems that we in the US have the same concerns as our British politicians. To me it still seems like media generated fluff. The inference being the Brits are such bleeding heart liberals that they want to ban knives. Not really the case.

Phil