U.K. Judge: Ban Pointed Knives to Prevent Stabbings

Proving once again that the “ban stuff” approach to prevent violence is idiotic, a U.K. judge has reportedly “proposed a nationwide programme to file down the points of kitchen knives as a solution to the country’s soaring knife crime epidemic.”

Last week in his valedictory address, retiring Luton Crown Court Judge Nic Madge spoke of his concern that carrying a knife had become routine in some circles and called on the Government to ban the sale of large pointed kitchen knives.

Derp.

Naturally, he has plenty of rhetoric to make his notion sound more reasonable.

[T]he vast majority of knives carried by youths are ordinary kitchen knives. Every kitchen contains lethal knives which are potential murder weapons.

Accordingly, it is very easy for any youth who wants to obtain a [long pointed] knife to take it from the kitchen drawer in his home or in the home of one of his friends.

But why we do need eight-inch or ten-inch kitchen knives with points?

Butchers and fishmongers do, but how often, if at all, does a domestic chef use the point of an eight-inch or ten-inch knife? Rarely, if at all.

The article says that, “Acknowledging that any blade could cause injury, the judge pointed out ‘slash wounds are rarely fatal.'”

His solution? Ban pointy things to end stabbings!

I would urge all those with any role in relation to knives — manufacturers, shops, the police, local authorities, the government — to consider preventing the sale of long pointed knives, except in rare, defined, circumstances, and replacing such knives with rounded ends.

It might even be that the police could organise a programme whereby the owners of kitchen knives, which have been properly and lawfully bought for culinary purposes, could be taken somewhere to be modified, with the points being ground down into rounded ends.

How pathetic that anyone in a position of authority and power could be so naive.

Pretty soon, the only knives available in the U.K. will be made by Nerf, and someone in the government will be trying to ban sticks and rocks because the violence will certainly continue beyond knife bans.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.