BBC Article calling for the ban on "Long Pointed Kitchen knives".

[dfsutton]

I wanted to share this article with you guys and gals to just show you what the future entails if we continue down this path. Not only is it insane, but it would almost be comical if it were not actually a real article. I doubt there's anyone here who needs convincing that a gun ban will do anything but hurt our rights, so I shared this article in hopes that you all will share it with your friends and colleagues as an example of where the "ban mentality" eventually leads to.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm

A&E doctors are calling for a ban on long pointed kitchen knives to reduce deaths from stabbing.

A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.

They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.

The research is published in the British Medical Journal.

The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all.

They consulted 10 top chefs from around the UK, and found such knives have little practical value in the kitchen.

None of the chefs felt such knives were essential, since the point of a short blade was just as useful when a sharp end was needed.

The researchers said a short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault - but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs.


In contrast, a pointed long blade pierces the body like "cutting into a ripe melon".

The use of knives is particularly worrying amongst adolescents, say the researchers, reporting that 24% of 16-year-olds have been shown to carry weapons, primarily knives.

The study found links between easy access to domestic knives and violent assault are long established.

French laws in the 17th century decreed that the tips of table and street knives be ground smooth.

A century later, forks and blunt-ended table knives were introduced in the UK in an effort to reduce injuries during arguments in public eating houses.

The researchers say legislation to ban the sale of long pointed knives would be a key step in the fight against violent crime.

"The Home Office is looking for ways to reduce knife crime.

"We suggest that banning the sale of long pointed knives is a sensible and practical measure that would have this effect."

Government response

Home Office spokesperson said there were already extensive restrictions in place to control the sale and possession of knives.

"The law already prohibits the possession of offensive weapons in a public place, and the possession of knives in public without good reason or lawful authority, with the exception of a folding pocket knife with a blade not exceeding three inches.

"Offensive weapons are defined as any weapon designed or adapted to cause injury, or intended by the person possessing them to do so.

"An individual has to demonstrate that he had good reason to possess a knife, for example for fishing, other sporting purposes or as part of his profession (e.g. a chef) in a public place.

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

A spokesperson for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "ACPO supports any move to reduce the number of knife related incidents, however, it is important to consider the practicalities of enforcing such changes."

 

[rrussotwo]

Thanks. This illustrates the stupidity I've been arguing for most of my life.

The (non-existent) perceived rise in crime is due in some part to the criminalization of fighting in schools.

I quickly became friends with those I fought in school and grudges festered when confrontations never came to blows.

Guess what. Unless you let kids learn how to settle things on their own (sooner or later, you learn violence doesn't work and well...hurts), the sooner we will evolve as a people.

 

[jgreco15]

Scary that these people are taking over the world!

 

[Pacioli]

Well that makes perfect sense. But it's only a start. There also needs to be a national debate about "high capacity knife holders." Those knife blocks that hold six, or even eight knives at once; who really needs that many knives at the ready like that? Additionally, electric knife sharpeners are openly for sale at the mall, where even teenagers can buy them. These dangerous devices can make an ordinary knife dangerously, unnecessarily sharp in only seconds. Clearly the pointed knife issue is a good start, but much work remains before everyone is safe from common sense.

 

[Gus McCrae]

Next will be sharp scissors.

 

[SirIsaacNewton]

Next will be sharp scissors.

and erect penises

 

[sandman7925]

Think that's bad? Pretty sure a couple years ago they banned glass beer mugs with handles because too many people were getting bashed over the head with them.

 

[Gus McCrae]

and erect penises

They aren't already!??!?!??!

 

[oleheat]

Lunacy.

 

[paddle007]

The proposed ban was the result of to many people getting cut with broken mugs. The logical answer was to ban glass mugsand replace them with plastic mugs. Lunacy at its best.

Think that's bad? Pretty sure a couple years ago they banned glass beer mugs with handles because too many people were getting bashed over the head with them.

 

[Jed]

The proposed ban was the result of to many people getting cut with broken mugs. The logical answer was to ban glass mugsand replace them with plastic mugs. Lunacy at its best.

This needs a little clarity.......smashing a pint glass into someones face was always a sure way to curtail an argument at the end of a long nights drinking and rapidly became fashionable in drinking establishments accross the UK through the eighties. (Re "Trainspotting")
The girls were far more prone than most guys to grinding or slashing a percieved rival females pretty face with a snifter or cocktail glass than they were to accept the offer of a nice dark corner and some heavy petting.
So now, about the only place you can get a nice warm dark ale in a Beer Jug is an old pub in the country, and yes, most if not all straight beer glasses are made of an "unbreakable plastic"
When I first came to the States in '93 it was a nice change to go out for a quick pint and not end up in the clink cos some jackass didn't like the look of you.

 

[Ironman26]

Dumb asses over there never had a clue then and they dont have a clue now.....my grandfather made the tour all the way to Battle of the Bulge, he even said the Britts were the same way then !!!!!

 

[wildmanleblanc]

You can kill someone with a Baseball Bat. does that mean they will have to go too. There are some Dumb Ass people in this world.