Rubber knives for the win (UK only)...

What are UK folks supposed to peel their oranges with?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7436141.stm

PM urges more knife prosecutions
The “presumption to prosecute” in knife crime cases should be extended, The prime minister has told prosecutors.
In a breakfast meeting with police and legal chiefs, Gordon Brown discussed plans to prosecute 16 and 17-year-olds caught carrying knives.
Current police guidance in England and Wales is to prosecute adults caught with a knife, but caution under-18s.
On Monday a 15-year-old girl who was stabbed became the 16th teenager to be fatally attacked in London this year.
Mr Brown met representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the director of public prosecutions at an early morning meeting in Downing Street on Thursday.
‘Feel safe’
MPs are also set to hold a special 90-minute Commons debate on the issue.
Currently the “presumption of prosecution” only applies to those aged over 18. Younger teenagers caught with a knife are often not charged or are cautioned.

	     	                 	     	                 	     	            [B] We need to send out a signal to those who carry knives for no good reason, that they can expect the police service to do its best to get them before a court [/B]     	     	            
	     	                 	     	                 	     	            Ken Jones     	     	            
	     	            Association of Chief Police Officers     	     	                 	     	                 	     	                 	     	                 	     	                                 
       	      	             Speaking after the meeting Mr Brown said: "Every young person who is carrying a knife needs to know they are not making themself safer but they are more likely to be injured. 

"What we have got to make sure is every young person who is carrying a knife is a person who will end up in court and is going to be prosecuted.
“We want people to understand when they carry a knife they are putting other people at risk and it is unacceptable.”
Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald QC, told Mr Brown at the meeting: "When people come to us their expectation is a prosecution will follow.
"What we are proposing is that if people are carrying a knife and are prosecuted for other offences, they will be prosecuted for the knife too.
"We have set out some further guidance that the public interest is in favour of prosecution.
“It has become fashionable [to carry a knife]. What we want people to understand is they put themselves at risk carrying these sorts of weapons.”
‘Worrying trend’
Metropolitan Police figures show that the number of victims of knife crime have gone down. In the year to March 2008, there were 10,220 such crimes, compared with 12,124 for the previous year - a reduction of 15.7%.
But the number of 11 to 18-year-olds attacked with knives between April and July 2006 rose by 4.5% compared with the same period in 2005.
Last year 27 teenagers in London met violent deaths, compared with 17 in 2006 and 15 in 2005.

	     	                 	     	                 	     	            [B]     	     	            If the answer was to lock up more young people then we would have solved the problem years ago     	     	            [/B]     	     	            
	     	                 	     	                 	     	            David Chaytor     	     	            
	     	            Rainer youth charity     	     	                 	     	                 	     	                 	     	                 	     	                                 
       	      	             ACPO President Ken Jones said a "worrying trend" had emerged with more serious knife attacks and younger teenagers involved in attacks. 

He told the BBC a clear message had to be sent: "You are not going to get ticked off for this, on first offence we will do our best to get you into court.
“I think this is the right thing to do and it’s sending a message out to youngsters: ‘don’t carry knives.’ Because it’s not just about enforcement, we’ve got to actually change the culture around this problem, and that involves all of us, frankly.”
But David Chaytor, of the youth charity Rainer, told the BBC: “If the answer was to lock up more young people, then we would have solved the problem years ago - we have already tripled the number of young people prosecuted for carrying a knife.”

Remember back in medieval times how everyone on the British Isles probably carried around some kind of knife?

LoL

I am pro gun control but go to curt because of a knife? WTF?
My dad has at least 1 knife on him the entire day, he has them laying around in the car, office he gets them as a present from companies on a regular basis. I have several knifes (I don’t carry them tough), everybody in my family has one. If we would visit the UK we all would get in trouble… What they are going to ban next? belts, you could strangle someone with it. Or you have to put your hands in cotton since you could punch somebody. Registration for people training MAs like sex offenders?

Read again, carefully:

We need to send out a signal to those who carry knives for no good reason, that they can expect the police service to do its best to get them before a court
Ken Jones
Association of Chief Police Officers

WTF is a good reason? Is there only one?

Yeah but what do you consider a good reason? Is the fact that you like to “pick flowers” a good reason? Or is self defence a good reason? Or the fact that you have been carrying a knife all your life since you can remember a good reason? Or that you use a knife for almost everything a good reason, for instance I don’t have a can-opener, I have my Swissknife, works better for me, I use it as a letter opener, screwdriver, bottle opener. Are those good reasons?
This is some strange loophole either waiting to be exploited or to silence the concerns of the people.

There was recently an attack in Tokyo where some nut drove into a crowd and proceeded to just stab people, ultimately killing 7 so far with many more wonded for a total of 17 attacked (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7442327.stm , it’s still a developing story). There have been other attacks with knifes this year as well, however these have not been done with serrated military style blades that scare people so much, but with knifes that you would use in the kitchen.

So how the hell does the UK think it can tackle violent by crime making weapon laws more harsh when even in Japan, with some of the most strict laws for carrying weapons in the world, people can just as well kill others with any houshold object. Furthermore the attacker was only stopped when the police came minutes later and threatend to shoot him (they should have as in that short time he stabbed over a dozen people). IE it took a good guy with a weapon to stop the bad guy with the weapon.