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Except that the law can't usefully distinguish between the "average Joe" and a teenager on their way to a gang fight. The law allows anyone to carry a non-lock
by jdietrich 7y ago
Except that the law can't usefully distinguish between the "average Joe" and a teenager on their way to a gang fight.
The law allows anyone to carry a non-locking folding knife with a blade of up to 76mm in length, unless there is evidence that they intend to use it as a weapon. The law also allows anyone to carry any bladed article if they have a lawful reason to do so - a chef can carry their knife bag to work, a carpenter can carry a utility knife to a job site, but you can't just drive around with a knife in your car for no good reason.
- egdod 7y agoI carry a pocket knife because it occasionally comes in handy. Opening a box, trimming a loose thread, picking a piece of spinach out of my teeth. Those are all good and lawful reasons, but I don’t think they’d be good enough for the Brits. (I also carry a concealed handgun because someday it might come in extremely handy, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish.)
- lozenge 7y agoYou can do all those things with a knife legal to carry in the UK.
- egdod 7y agoAnd I’m sure their subjects are happy that they can still carry such knives, for now.
- wtallis 7y ago> Those are all good and lawful reasons, but I don’t think they’d be good enough for the Brits. It's not just the Brits who would wonder why you need a blade longer than 3" for those uses.
- egdod 7y agoThe Brits would also require it to be a non-locking knife, for some reason. I prefer a knife that locks open, for safety reasons. But the UK government, in its infinite wisdom, says no.
- nradov 7y agoWhat a stupid, counterproductive law. Non locking folding knives are a safety hazard to the user. If you're going to bother carrying a pocketknife at all then it should have a lock.
- tristor 7y agoI have carried a pocket knife (with a lock) every single day of my life since I was 9 years old. I have opened countless boxes, letters, and used it trim hoses, as an impromptu pick, to clean my fingernails, to poke something, to dig, as an aid since I lack long nails to pop watch clasps, and all sorts of other manners as a good all-purpose tool. It has never been used as a weapon, because that is not what a pocket knife is for. The law you just described is beyond asinine to the point it is unfathomable to me the type of person who would propose such depth of stupidity be enacted as legislation. The law you just described is literally tyrannical. It is so deeply unreasonable on its face that any right-thinking person should oppose it, and the means to enforce it necessitate the use of the violence of the state. It is fundamentally oppressive. A knife is a tool, and is an essential tool for all manner of use to enable a person to more effectively live their life and do their work. Restricting it in this manner is a restriction on livelihood and is evil.
- chopin 7y agoI recently visited Ireland and was shocked to learn that in the 1920s was a rule forbidding men to put their hand in their pockets when walking outside. Anybody violating this could be shot by the police. It can get worse.