Sword Control in Great Britain

[SFC JeffJ]

I just heard on NPR that due to some high profile assaults, inexpensive katanas will no longer be imported or sold in Great Britain. Apparently this will not affect collectors of the more expensive kind.

Jeff

 

[arnisador]

They've been working very hard to restrict access to all sorts of bladed weapons there. For those new to this story, search this site for "knife epidemic" for more info. on this than anyone would want to know! E.g.:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54191

They are serious about controlling a variety of types of weapons there, but to give them credit...how many mall shootings have there been in the U.K.?

 

[tellner]

It's gotten to the point where the British Medical Association has called for a ban on chef's knives and any "large" kitchen knife with a point. It hasn't done much. In spite of the bans crimes with guns have gone up steadily since the ban, and violence with knives has headed in the same direction.

The UK would be much better off getting rid of alcohol. According to the government Brits drink an unchristly amount starting at early ages and tend to binge more than most. We know exactly how effective Prohibition was in the States, but at least they could go back to closing times and keep the round the clock drinking down.

The justice system is broken; a directive last year from the Home Office to police departments stated that burglary, simple assault and most sexual assaults were not to be investigated as crimes. I've seen some high profile cases in the Telegraph and Times where it took over 100 crimes for someone to get a stiff sentence - an ASBO On the other hand things like playing a radio where others can hear it is considered a serious intellectual property crime, and police can be called if you violate Council bans on taking pictures of children in the park, your own toddler that is. The prisons are absolutely full.

Bans like these are an attempt to "do something" on the part of a society that's experiencing significant breakdowns and knows on some level that there isn't much they can do about it.

 

[Sukerkin]

It's the teenage binge drinking that is the problem, Todd. We've always swam in a sea of booze over here and we're quite happy with it ta . Rum and gunpowder built us an empire after all :lol:.

What has happened is a change in what is perceived as acceptable by the peers of the young.

When I was a late 'teen (yes, it's true I was at one time not old ) it was a mark of great shame not to be able to 'hold your drink' i.e. getting falling down drunk, as is now common, would earn you a stigma that endured if it happened more than once. So you learned where your limit was and stayed within it.

I shall have to see if there are any figures on absolute consumption to gauge if the overall amounts have gone up but I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have. I also can't say why things have changed so that it is no longer 'uncool' to be unable to stand up and throwing-up in the street no longer gets you shunned by your mates.

 

[Sukerkin]

On the 'sword ban' issue, we (those in the sword arts) have tried to get the government to see sense but have only obtained a partial success and I can see that once the useless regulations fail to achieve anything then 'stronger' measures will be called for ... and I'll have to emigrate.

To put things in scale, you only need to read the governments own white paper figures which show that so-called sword-crime is the smallest of blips on the chart - however, because of Kill Bill, the 'Samurai Sword' has become high enough profile for self-serving politicos to target it in a vain attempt to be seen to be doing something.

Have to stop now as the rant valve is starting to burst open ...

 

[Rich Parsons]

I just heard on NPR that due to some high profile assaults, inexpensive katanas will no longer be imported or sold in Great Britain. Apparently this will not affect collectors of the more expensive kind.

Jeff

Not allowed to own a firearm.

Not allowed to own a replica firearm.

More assaults based upon blades.

A control on swords.

A request on blades / knives to control them as well.

When Blades are outlawed as well, then the sales of Bats will go up. (* Just like in Ireland *)

Then maybe Bats, and other sports equipment including cricket bats may be hard to get. No tire wrenches, no pool cues, nothing that could be used as an impact weapon.

(* SHHH! Do not let them know that a vehicle could be used as well. *)

This will leave the person only their body to assault others.

Has the existing laws there decreased the assaults and murders? (* I honestly do not know. *) If it has then there could be an arguement that there is value. But if there always is a small percentage of assualts that are there no matter the law or no matter the weapon then what is the benefit? (* Warm Fuzzy to make people think they are doing somehting? *)

 

[Tez3]

We're "experiencing significant breakdowns and know on some level that there isn't much they can do about it", really? Funny doesn't seem like that to me, and I have to police the place. Sneer away just because we aren't a country that believes in carrying guns or having a death sentence. It's funny too that I haven't seen any directive from the Home Office to not investigate crimes, pity really, would make my life so much easier if my workload was cut, please don't believe everything you read in the papers, over here they are political and have agendas.the Telegraph and the Times are Tory supporting against a Labout government. In fact new ways are being found to investigate sexual crimes more vigorously and bring to court more often the offender. There is no crime against intellectual property but there is noise nuisance as anyone who has had neighbours playing stereos at full blast all day and night can tell you. The prisons aren't full of people taking photographs of their own children, that's ridiculous.
As Sukerkin pointed out alcohol drinking among young people is a problem in the terms of public order, people passing out, being sick and brawling.Drinking around the clock doesn't happen despite the change in licensing hours,the latest laces stay open is probably about three in the morning, paying staff is expensive so nowhere stays open for the time they are actually allowed to.
Knife crimes however are escalating, most young and the not so young people carry a blade these days of some description, legislating solely aganst "Samurai" swords however is a bit OTT but then they can be bought very cheaply, you can get a set if three "Samurai" swords for $50 (yes we know they aren't Samurai swords).Knife culture has a long history in the UK, in the 1950's Glasgow was famous for razor attacks, 'flick' knives were very common long before the Second World War.
British people are allowed to own firearms btw, they just need to get a licence for them and keep them in a secure cabinet.
Please don't judge this country or should I say our four countries by what you read in the press.

 

[Rich Parsons]

We're "experiencing significant breakdowns and know on some level that there isn't much they can do about it", really? Funny doesn't seem like that to me, and I have to police the place. Sneer away just because we aren't a country that believes in carrying guns or having a death sentence. It's funny too that I haven't seen any directive from the Home Office to not investigate crimes, pity really, would make my life so much easier if my workload was cut, please don't believe everything you read in the papers, over here they are political and have agendas.the Telegraph and the Times are Tory supporting against a Labout government. In fact new ways are being found to investigate sexual crimes more vigorously and bring to court more often the offender. There is no crime against intellectual property but there is noise nuisance as anyone who has had neighbours playing stereos at full blast all day and night can tell you. The prisons aren't full of people taking photographs of their own children, that's ridiculous.
As Sukerkin pointed out alcohol drinking among young people is a problem in the terms of public order, people passing out, being sick and brawling.Drinking around the clock doesn't happen despite the change in licensing hours,the latest laces stay open is probably about three in the morning, paying staff is expensive so nowhere stays open for the time they are actually allowed to.
Knife crimes however are escalating, most young and the not so young people carry a blade these days of some description, legislating solely aganst "Samurai" swords however is a bit OTT but then they can be bought very cheaply, you can get a set if three "Samurai" swords for $50 (yes we know they aren't Samurai swords).Knife culture has a long history in the UK, in the 1950's Glasgow was famous for razor attacks, 'flick' knives were very common long before the Second World War.
British people are allowed to own firearms btw, they just need to get a licence for them and keep them in a secure cabinet.
Please don't judge this country or should I say our four countries by what you read in the press.

Tez3,

Did you take my comments as funny? If so then they did not come across right. The Wink smiley was for the node to the IRA and others that used to buy baseball bats, and no one played baseball. My comments were about how violence at some level may occur no matter what the level of control is in place by the law.

 

[Tez3]

Tez3,

Did you take my comments as funny? If so then they did not come across right. The Wink smiley was for the node to the IRA and others that used to buy baseball bats, and no one played baseball. My comments were about how violence at some level may occur no matter what the level of control is in place by the law.

It wasn't your post I was commenting on but since you mention the IRA I have absolutely no sense of hunour where they are concerned,they blew up my fiance plus they killed several friends and colleagues. One colleague Robert Nairac was tortured to death.

 

[Rich Parsons]

It wasn't your post I was commenting on but since you mention the IRA I have absolutely no sense of hunour where they are concerned,they blew up my fiance plus they killed several friends and colleagues. One colleague Robert Nairac was tortured to death.

I did not wish to make my post personal to you. I did not know that about your family and friends.

My point was to try to say that people will find a way to have weapons and ot make things weigh in their favor in conflict.

Once again I did not mean to bring up something painful personally to you.

 

[Cruentus]

I just heard on NPR that due to some high profile assaults, inexpensive katanas will no longer be imported or sold in Great Britain. Apparently this will not affect collectors of the more expensive kind.

Jeff

Despite our problems.... I am SO glad I live here!

 

[Grenadier]

Standard "blame the object, not the user" tactics. Such garbage will simply fall flat on its own face, and have no real effect on controlling crime. The criminal element will continue to get their weapons anyways.

Sooner or later, someone in power will have to realize that it's not the inanimate chunks of metal that cause the problems; it's the sentient beings whose consciences go awry that cause the problems.

 

[thardey]

Standard "blame the object, not the user" tactics. Such garbage will simply fall flat on its own face, and have no real effect on controlling crime. The criminal element will continue to get their weapons anyways.

Sooner or later, someone in power will have to realize that it's not the inanimate chunks of metal that cause the problems; it's the sentient beings whose consciences go awry that cause the problems.

I'll bet that most people in power already know that . . . but they also know that the illusion of security is an excellent way to preserve the power that they have.

 

[Hyper_Shadow]

Funny thing is I went to bescot market the other day and saw a young lad of about 14/15 go to a cheap *** stall and but a lame wall hanger. So something is seriosuly awry somewhere. Matter of fact the only situation where I saw the new sword prohibition in action was at Seni this year. The only reason I saw that was because almost noone was there. As always it's the honest and law abiding folks who get screwed over to make the numbers look good. Man I hate liars! I mean politicians!

 

[LanJie]

There should be a provision for martial arts to have martial arts weapons added to legislation. People who are trained martial artist for a certain number of years or are in training should be able to legally own them.

I study a Chinese Martial art Tai Chi Praying Mantis but I own and train with broadswords, double edge straight swords, and metal bladed spears.

This kind of legislation is bad for all martial artists and let us hope it does not set a pattern of general weapons restrictions.