The city of London, United Kingdom, has registered more murders in the first three months of 2018 than did New York City. Because the country has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the world, criminals are instead using knives and police have noted that the number of knife-related attacks has been climbing drastically. However, knife ownership is already heavily regulated in the country. Still, London Mayor Sadiq Khan launched another campaign to impose real “knife control” in the city.
It’s been illegal to purchase or carry any knife with a blade longer than 3 inches in the UK. An individual may carry a knife only if he or she can prove it’s with “good reason,” but claiming that you are afraid for your life and want to use it for self-defense isn’t enough. As such, law-abiding citizens who are both afraid of gun and knife-related violence have been left with little recourse, practically forced to hide from their shadows rather than dare to defend themselves from violent criminals.
But now with the new push to completely ban knives, Khan has started pushing police officers in London to “stop and frisk” individuals who may be carrying knives. The same policy that was once rightly condemned by the same man.
But despite the emotional and abrupt decisions coming from the top, isn’t it important to note that, to citizens in England, living vulnerable lives is a constant? As such, a criminal who may not have easy access to illegally purchased firearms may find knives just as easy to use to target their victims. After all, nobody will have any means to defend themselves. And if that’s the case, using a knife to rob or kill will get the job done.
As The Daily Signal reports, incredibly restrictive gun laws put in place since the 1990s in the UK did not make the country safer. Quite the contrary. With an entire country being forced to disarm and now starting to lose access to knives as well, the reality is that criminals will actually have an easier time committing their crimes. And as more and more laws against knife ownership are added to their criminal code, the UK is seeing nothing but an uptick in the number of knife-related crime.
If the United Kingdom wants to continue on its path of giving law-abiding citizens fewer reasons to walk in the streets, they are doing the right thing. But in their paternalistic pursuits, they are treating their citizens like children who cannot be trusted to possess any sharp or pointy object that might present a danger. They are also removing any fear or apprehension in the minds of thieves, rapists and murders (who care nothing about following the law) that their next victim will be able to put up a fight.
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