Free Republic

The UK is in the midst of an epidemic of knife attacks so, naturally, the idea is being floated to ban them.Crown Court Judge Nic Madge said in a speech that there should be a nationwide program to file down the points of large kitchen knives and to ban their sale.Telegraph: Judge Madge told the assembled  judges, barristers and court staff: “These offences often seem motiveless - one boy was stabbed because he had an argument a couple of years before at his junior school.” He said laws designed to reduce the availability of weapons to young would-be offenders...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has launched a major crackdown on the "scourge" after three fatal stabbings were reported in the capital within hours of each other. New measures will see schools given metal detecting "knife wands" and a new community sentence for those convicted of knife possession.

Colorado is working hard to reform its antiquated knife bans.  In the late 1950's and early 1960's, a wave of bans on knives swept the nation. The were propelled by emotional tirades of a New York Congressman, and fueled by allegations of widespread use by gangs, in spite of a lack of data. There was no wave of knife violence. But the fake media of the day was able to sweep bans on “gravity” and “switchblade” knives through legislatures across the country.  A federal ban in the interstate shipping of automatic knives was enacted into law in 1958, and...

In a bipartisan vote yesterday, the New York Assembly voted 99 - 12 to pass A9042A, Knife Rights' gravity knife and switchblade reform bill. A9042A, and its companion bill in the Senate, S6483A, add clarifying bias-toward closure exclusions to the state switchblade and gravity knife definitions, similar to that included in the revision to the Federal Switchblade Act that Knife Rights helped pass in 2009. This clarifying exclusion should prevent the bogus Gravity Knife arrests and prosecutions of honest law-abiding individuals in New York City who are carrying common folding knives, tools that are legal to carry everywhere else in...

Nevada Governor Sandoval signed significant knife law reform legislation on 1 June, 2015.  The law removes antique bans on switchblade knives, dirks, daggers, and belt buckle knives.  State preemption of knife laws was stripped from the bill.  The law will go into effect on 1 July. The bill is an interesting inversion of the knife law reforms enacted in Texas, where a comprehensive preemption law was passed, while antique bans on dirks and daggers, inherited from the 1873 Reconstruction government were left in place. The reforms have been championed by Knife Rights, who characterize their efforts as opening a...

HB 3884, which repeals the Texas prohibition on many popular knives, has passed the Texas house.  It is clear that knives, especially knives such as Bowie knives, swords, and daggers, are arms protected under the second amendment.  But these arms were banned from carry in Texas, along with handguns, during the carpetbagger government takeover of Texas after the Civil War, or War between the States, if you prefer.  When the Texas legislature reformed the law with shall issue concealed carry permits, they did not include knives. The law was very selectively enforced.   One correspondent from Texas put i, reporting...

Oklahoma has repealed their version of the switchblade knife ban.   Baltimore has a similar law that Freddy Grey was arrested under before his death from a serious spinal cord injury, three fractured vertebrae, and a crushed voice box, apparently while in police custody.   The Baltimore law is more vague than the Oklahoma law HB 1911(pdf) , and the AG in Baltimore has ruled that the arrest was illegal, probably for two reasons. First, the knife was not concealed. The officer noted that he saw the knife clipped to the front pants pocket. Second, the knife was not a...

Texas Capitol Building KnifeRights.org Gilbert, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- Knife Rights’ bill to repeal the ban on prohibited knives in Texas needs your help. HB 3884 sponsored by Knife Rights friend Representative Harold Dutton needs to be heard as soon as possible in the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.The Chairman of the committee, Representative Abel Herrero, is a proven pro-Second Amendment legislator and we have no reason to believe he is holding the bill for philosophical reasons, but the clock is ticking and if the bill is not heard in committee very soon, it will end up dead for the session. In Texas...

The Village Voice of New York City has come out in favor of knife reform legislation.   The abusive prosecutions under this law have, no doubt, been going on ever since its passage in the 1950's.   Knife Rights has been in the forefront of this fight, and has an ongoing court case, noted in the Voice article.  The abuses have become increasingly severe in the last 10 years, with The Village Voice noting that as many as 60,000 people have been arrested.  From the Village Voice: Assemblyman Dan Quart will introduce a bill today to adjust the language of the...

THESE horrifying knives have been taken off the streets of Coventry in the last 10 days. They are examples of the kinds of blades police and the Evening Telegraph are trying to banish from the city during the One Knife One Life campaign. The campaign, which was launched in the city last week, aims to teach youngsters - and particularly teenage boys - the dangers of knives. Police say young people carry knives to make themselves feel more secure, or because they know other people do. They say they don't think about the potentially devastating consequences carrying a knife can...

Taking a cue from King Louis XIV of France, three Britons are proposing a ban on sharp, pointed kitchen knives. In a British Medical Journal article, the three hospital workers suggest banning pointed kitchen knives. They note that in 1669, to reduce violent crimes committed with knives, Louis passed a law demanding that the tips of all table and street knives be ground smooth. In the United Kingdom, where citizens do not have the right to own, much less carry, firearms, violent crime is increasing. For example, figures from London show a 17.9 percent increase in violent crime from 2003...