Posted on 09/10/2011 1:45:54 PM PDT by marktwain
Gilbert, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- On Thursday, September 8, 2011, the Public Safety Committee of the Boston City Council held a public hearing concerning the potential licensing of businesses that sell knives.
According to the supporters of the proposed license, the action is needed as a means to address the “ever increasing knife violence in Boston.”
Knife Rights was represented by Jim Wallace, Executive Director of Gun Owners’ Action League, who was also representing his own organization.
The politicians attending were clearly firm in their conviction that action must be taken, some scapegoat must be found. There were grieving parents and their genuine heart wrenching stories of lost loved ones. Public safety officials offered supportive testimony for the proposal.
For anyone who attended the infamous Gun Control hearings here a decade ago, the only difference was that the word “guns” was replaced with “knives.”
The testimony and statements during the public hearing were frighteningly reminiscent of past gun control hearings.
“Why would we allow any corner store to sell these dangerous weapons (knives).” “Selling knives does not support families.” “We must do everything we can to restrict access to these dangerous weapons.” “Why would anyone need a knife with a blade more than two inches long.”"Knives are fine if you need them for work, but employers should require they be left on the job.”
To anyone who has been involved in the Second Amendment battle in the last few decades it sends a shiver up your spine, because this is exactly how gun control efforts were initiated. To make matters more frightening, law enforcement officials testified that “the modern way of approaching these issues is to go after the source of the items rather than the criminals themselves.”
Wallace urged the City Council to take careful and meaningful steps in addressing the problem of violent crime.
“I urge the City Council to review what it is about to do and reflect on the failures of gun control,” said Wallace.“Over a decade ago I had to testify before committees in the state house with grieving families in the background. Now I sit before you a decade later with grieving families behind me again. If you proceed down this path and get it wrong again, ten years from now we will likely repeat this scene yet again.”
Wallace also reminded the councilors that these stores are already licensed by the city, for which they pay a fee and are subject to city oversight as to their compliance with the law, and that there is already an ordinance on the books that makes it illegal to sell a knife with a blade two inches or longer to anyone under age 18. He reiterated that there is no need for new regulation.
Even in high security of prisons rudimentary knives (shivs) are readily available, which shows the futility of trying to control the source of a such an easy to make weapon, as opposed to penalizing law-abiding citizens and making it more difficult for them to obtain the versatile tools used by millions every day at work, home and while recreating.
The City Council took no action on the matter during the hearing. It is likely that it will be some weeks before a draft ordinance is presented to the City Council as a whole.
In the meantime, we will work to try to ensure that history does not repeat itself. We have an unusual advantage in this situation to know what the future will bring if we follow this path of knife control proposed by Boston. We know without any doubt that citizens’ rights will be trampled. Most certainly grieving families will still be burying loved ones because politicians would appear to prefer going after the source of an inanimate object rather than the human criminal element – the source of the crime. The solution offered up today is no solution at all.
If you are a Boston citizen, here is a link to the councilors’ webpages where you can find a link to contact them and POLITELY express your outrage: http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/councillors
We urge all Boston area Knife Rights members to contact the Boston City Council and express their opposition to this measure.
Your membership and support allows Knife Rights to oppose efforts such as this to restrict our freedoms. If you are not yet a member, please join Knife Rights and encourage your friends to join today!
About: Knife Rights (www.KnifeRights.org) is America’s Grassroots Knife Owners Organization, working towards a Sharper Future for all knife owners. Knife Rights is dedicated to providing knife owners an effective voice in public policy. Become a Knife Rights member and make a contribution to support the fight for your knife rights. Visit www.kniferights.org
I can just imagine how this will go:
“Waiter! Can I have a steak knife for my steak?”
Waiter: “No, they were banned by our city council.”
So true. And I like the way you stated that.
Imbeciles in action! Knives are hard to control in prison. How do these dipsticks think this could work?
People will use a stick or a rock to kill each other if those are all that is available.
Loony!
It bears repeating, over and over again. Knives are not tools, they can be used as such, but they are protected because they are weapons. They are arms. Knives, swords, blowguns, saps, daggers, etc, are all constitutionally protected, and those laws that ban them are unconstitutional. In the focus to protect gun rights, too often we ignore that knives have been legislated away in many regions and carrying one can cause a felony conviction - and of course, get a felony conviction, and chances are, your gun rights are taken away as well.
The continued references in the article to knives being tools does a disservice to everyone. It is pretending that they shouldn't be regulated when they are protected from regulation.
Hmmm, well what about scissors?
I can throw scissors just as well as I can throw a blade.
Hopefully they don’t go after icepicks and railroad spikes next, cuz I can throw those too, and they are dangerous :D
How about forks, spoons...sticks. My oh My...so many weapons so little time.
We need hammer control! To witness an expert carpenter wielding a claw hammer is enough to strike fear into a strong man’s heart. No untrained homeowner should have a claw hammer in his possession, these weapons are far too dangerous, a federal license should be required to sell any hammer weighing more than four ounces. Then there is the matter of screwdrivers, no screwdriver with a shaft more than one inch long should be allowed. Then we need to outlaw automatic assault nail guns. Now let’s talk about walking sticks. I can go on and on and on until I drop dead of old age and never run out of potential weapons to outlaw.
The Demokratik Peoples Republik Of Mass. is every bit as insane as the Demokratik Peoples Republik of Kalifornia. However Crazy people Don’t know that they are crazy. They think everyone else is nutz...
I hadn’t tried forks yet, I’m thinking a two pronged BBQ fork would make a nice throwing weapon.
I did forget to mention that I can also throw full sized machetes very accurately, so hopefully those get banned in boston too!
Also, things that are blunt are banned, and things that are heavy are banned, and things that are blunt AND heavy are RIGHT OUT AS WELL!!!
Well, lets see... that about cover it then???
No joke, I went to a restaurant, ordered a steak, and was given a butter knife to use. When I asked for a steak knife, the waiter offered to take the steak into the kitchen to have it cut up for me, to which I stood up and started gathering my stuff. The waiter objected, saying I couldn't walk out on my bill. I replied 'feel free to call the cops, but if Mommy's going to cut my steak for me, she can eat it too.'
Long story short, the cops were indeed called, and had one of the employees come out to inform me that I wasn't welcome on their property again. He waited for the employee to go back inside, shook his head, and noted there was one less restaurant on his list to try, as it was the stupidest policy he ever heard of.
Ping
What part of the country was “Mommy’s Restaurant” in?
Knive/melee weapon control is a lot less complicated then gun control. A bad guy can get a knife or bludgeoning weapon no matter what, period, end of story. They mention that they can’t control it even in micromanaged FREAKING PRISON. Even if you take away everything with edges, you can still grind a point on a butterknife. You can grind a point on a fracking toothbrush. What about bludgeoning weapons? Baseball bats and lead pipes. ROCKS.
Again, a criminal will always be able to find a mellee weapon no matter what. It is bad enough with emotional idiot politicians, but the police are supporting this crock too? Grrrr
Wow, posted that sucker by accident without spellcheck. Sorry if anybody’s head explodes from all the typos.
While stationed in Havana, we used to patronize “paladares,” private homes permitted to open up as privately operated restaurants. When we visited our favorite, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, we had to bring our own steak knives for the pork they served; they were only allowed to use butter knives for their guests.
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