Mandatory knife jail terms backed

Mandatory knife jail terms backed

news.bbc.co.uk

Sixty-two per cent of people think that those caught carrying a knife in public should automatically go to jail, a poll conducted for the BBC suggests.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
NEWS: Five Year Sentence For Carrying A Knife
How can we solve the knife problem?
[UK] How do we seriously attack knife crime?

Not being a U.K. citizen, I really don't know what to think of this. I know there is a massive problem with knife-related violence and killings in Britain, and I can understand where this proposed revision to the law is coming from, but isn't this just a touch excessive?
Yes, I suppose there is no good reason for carrying a knife in public, but if I was in a place with this law I would live in fear of a search finding anything that could be construed as a blade. Imagine you borrow someone else's car, and the keychain has a mini pocket knife on it? Just going down to get some milk . . . that's 4 years in jail. 4 years!!

I dunno. I can see how something like this would serve to drastically cut knife violence, but at what cost?


news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I dont live in the U.K. but I think this is ridiculous any thing can be used as a weapon if you try hard enough. It may help knife crimes go down but there are going to be a massive amount of people in jail. If knifes are outlawed then people will just use pencils and scissors instead. IMO

Screwdrivers can be used instead of knives. It's a completely stupid concept to send people to jail for carrying a knife.

I don't see a problem with carrying some knives. There's nothing wrong with a Swiss Army Knife in your pocket, it's a utility that can be useful with all of its different appendages.

Here, I believe it went from 6" to 4" blade to carry. I use a knife constantly. When i am done, I put it in my pocket. It's not like a city full of Crocodile Dundee's are walking the streets.

If a 4" blade isn't enough for your needs, your needs don't belong on the public streets.

What a world we live in huh?

I was wearing a skinning knife on my belt one night and didn't think about it. Went into a casino. I got half way through the place when security came up and told be I couldn't bring a skinning knife in there.

I knew that, but didn't think of the fact I was wearing it.

I went to my vehicle and removed it, went back in.

Sounds like over the pond there, you would be jumped by a gang of law enforcement officers should that mistake happen., (if they didn't call SWAT - or equivelent - and just observe you untill thy arrived)
Ouch....

I must say, the responses in this thread have mostly been rather knee-jerk.

Over here, we have common sense policing and common sense courts.

If you have a valid reason for carrying a legal knife, then the police will let you be on your way. Say you've gone fishing, or are out camping for example they are unlikely to bother you.

If, however, your a 17 year old oik, hood over your head and are acting like a toss-pot in an urban area, there is no reason for you to be carrying a knife and you will be brought before the courts.

This is what the article is alluding too, not just anyone that is carrying, but those who are with no obvious legal reason.

[edit on 11/1/09 by stumason]

Actually you are allowed to wear a 6inch blade here in the states as long as it is on the belt and sheathed. I wear one all the time for work as does a couple of my friends that do construction. But a business has the right to ask you to leave if they feel threatened or do not approve or you flaunt it. As for the UK...I don't know, knives are so easy to conceal, this is nothing more than another retarded law meant to tighten the screws.

[edit on 11-1-2009 by djvexd]

.... ?

LOL... this is so amusing....

hmm... can I substitute a straight razor for a knife? Screw driver, sharpened pencil or spork!

soon you will have to wear soccer boppers over there.

image62.webshots.com...

Originally posted by djvexd
As for the UK...I don't know, knives are so easy to conceal, this is nothing more than another retarded law meant to tighten the screws.

Well, for someone who professes to not know, you still have a strong opinion on the subject!

Yes, knives are easy to conceal, but if you are found to be carrying one in a "stop and search" (again, look at the oiks causing trouble in urban area's) then you're likely at the moment to just get a caution, or maybe a fine if it goes to the magistrates. What they want to do now is make it a custodail offence to be carrying an illegal, lethal weapon.

Look at the problem we have in almost every town in the UK, here are some examples of who this will be targetting:





How can you say this is just for "tightening the screws". What possible reason could you have for carring round large blades, cleavers and other weaponry in the middle of a town or city?

Plenty of ill-informed comments from people who don't have a clue what is going on in the UK at the moment for this to be welcomed by the people. We are suffering from a plague of youth related knife and gun crime, as youngsters go around in gangs and litteraly terrorise whole neighbourhoods with mindless violence and thuggery.

[edit on 11/1/09 by stumason]

Originally posted by infolurker
.... ?

LOL... this is so amusing....

hmm... can I substitute a straight razor for a knife? Screw driver, sharpened pencil or spork!

Piece of slate, lawnmover blade, flattened aluminum tube, filed toothbrush, length of heavy gauge wire with tape wrapped around the handle...

Police State is going to have a whole new meaning when everyone is walking around carrying prison shivs. Nobody will know which side of the bars they are on.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Piece of slate, lawnmover blade, flattened aluminum tube, filed toothbrush, length of heavy gauge wire with tape wrapped around the handle...

Yes, well done, you can list other items that can be used as a weapon, but if you carry anything like what you describe around town (and especially if you are an oiky chav) you will most likely be nicked for carrying an offensive weapon for them too.

[edit on 11/1/09 by stumason]

reply to post by stumason

Well actually I said " I don't know" because in FLA it is normal for ppl to carry knives on hips as large as that. I was not trying to say anything untowards , so please reign it in. People using knives, cleavers, shortswords in a crime is bad and needs to be dealt with if that is the main weapon of choice for criminals. But I could swear that guns are still widely available on the blackmarket in the UK ( this from my best friend in Wales) so I would think that guns might be more of an issue. But as I said I don't live there so...

reply to post by djvexd


Guns are easy to get, but knives are by and large the weapon of choice and as a result, what people fear most. Hence why many want a mandatory sentence for anyone caught with an illegal blade, rather than a slap on the wrist which is what they tend to get at the moment.

Oh, I'll reign it in when people who don't know anything about the UK stop passing judgement and making silly comments.

[edit on 11/1/09 by stumason]

reply to post by stumason


Thats what UK gang-bangers look like? What is it with gang members all looking like half-tard cartoon characters? It seems to be a universal theme.

The guy in the 2nd photo about to saw off what's left of his pasty limp nub looks like he's carrying a kitchen knife.

Anybody ever watch UCB? There was a skit about the school of kicking ass taught by some Dan Cortez looking clown in football pads. He asked his students what "kick-ass" skills they had and this crackhead Punky Brewster look-a-like pulled out a steak knife and announce in a garbled chemically induced excited exclamation "I got a knife!"

The sad, pathetic state of the "thug-life"

Should I be stabbed in the gut and left to die by one of these idiots I expect my final sounds and thoughts would be a mix of intense pain and laughter at the absurdity.

Sombody should reanimate Churchill and let him whoop some ass.


Do they scatter when the bobbies blow their whistles? Couldnt resist.

reply to post by stumason

Was no judgment passed. But agreed, I did not realize that it was taken that way and I apologize.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Yup, that is the general "uniform" and they even have gang colours in some areas, just like the US gang members they see on the telly-box..

It really is a big problem in the UK and it gets worse year on year. Most of them complain about not having anything to do, or having no opportunities but that's bull crap.

The opportunities are there for them to do well in life, but many of the oiks drop out of school because of peer pressure from other oiks and seek a life of petty crime and protecting their "turf" from the other gangs of oiks from down the road....

reply to post by djvexd


No problem . It was the comments (not specifically you, but generally) that seemed to indicate the tired old line of "police state" and the wisecracks about anything being a weapon without understanding the very real problem we have in the UK, which is gangs of little idiots running amok and stabbing everyone they see.

Father and son stabbed - Father dies

Man stabbed by teenager

Teenager in hospital after stabbing

Woman injured in stabbing

reply to post by stumason


Thanks for the links...you do have quite an epidemic. I guess I have been so desensetized to people shooting each other here that I kinda projected that on this problem.

If you commit a crime using a knife as a weapon, or whilst carrying a knife, then it should be an automatic jail sentence, but if you're just *carrying* a knife, then no. Not everyone carrying a knife wants to harm someone.



[edit on 11-1-2009 by mirageofdeceit]

reply to post by stumason


Cowards. That's all they are! Look at how they're hiding their faces. Not even man enough to show themselves.

My gun trumps your pathetic knife, mate!



[edit on 11-1-2009 by mirageofdeceit]