Actually we dont.
Penalties for possession with intent to use (violently) and obviously the use of in a crime are harsh, but there seems to be this myth that the Brits are restricted on the buying and owning of them. Complete tosh.
“Complete tosh.”
I take it you speak from experience. I looked up the laws a few weeks ago, and a few things stuck out to me.
First of all, there was a law against carrying one with a locking blade, over a certain length...making carrying a large kitchen knife around illegal, for example. You can certainly own a long knife...but you can’t bring it out of the house.
The other one I noticed was a prohibition against people younger than 18 buying knives over a certain length...and you can’t buy a long knife with the intent to give to somebody younger than 18 years old...to include cutlery.
Do these sound correct? If so, that is a bit different than the US, where as far as I know, there are no age limits anywhere. And, you can walk around with a locking knife, as long as it doesn’t open quickly and automatically lock (like a switch blade). So its common for teenagers to walk around with 6” hunting knives on their belt...which I am assuming would be taboo in the UK?