Is it just me, or is there something weird going on with the numbers in that linked UN report? Tuvalu reported zero knife related deaths in 2019, but the rate per 100 people is calculated as 2.04. In fact there were seven countries that reported zero deaths, but all have a non-zero rate per 100,000.The United Kingdom reported 53 knife related deaths in 2019 and a rate of 0.08/100,000, which sounds about right. The overall homicide rate for the UK in 2019 was 1.20/100,000, which suggests knife crime only accounts for about 6.67% of all homicides there.
Canada had a murder rate nearly double the UK in 2022.
The law is a bit hazy on mutli-tools but i’ve never known any of the many many people* who carry them in a sheath on their belt have a problem carrying. You can enter a lot of shops here and purchase locking knives aplenty, with ID of course.
*Admittedly these are screen and theatre industry people.
We have a lot of internecine drug gang warfare here; it really bumps the murder stats up. The easy availability of illegal handguns smuggled across the border lets them kill each other with abandon.
Sorry, but the statistics in the article are wrong ( and 5 years old).
Last year there was 240 murder cases involving a knife in the UK ( Germany had around 200 murder cases in total with 15 million more inhabitants).
There was ( the counts were going down around 60% in the last years due to the strict laws) and is an epidemic problem of teenager violence with sharp objects in the UK.
The UK is known for its strict weapon laws… and even in Germany a 15 cm “Letter opener” would be counted as a dangerous weapon by law if you carry it around in the streets.
Working, yes. You’d also have fewer traffic fatalities if you banned cars, which while a very different situation is comparable in that it’s only looking at half the equation. The relevant question is whether the impact is worth the cost. On that I’m honestly unsure, but I personally wouldn’t have any issue with it. 1-2 fewer knife-related deaths per million people per year relative to the US is not nothing, and I’ve personally never felt a need to carry a knife anywhere, definitely not a visible one. Apparently other people do, and I don’t know how many people are actually inconvenienced by these rules or why. I also don’t know how many of those extra knife homicides in the US are happening in public places where these laws could have an effect.
Edit to add: do these laws only apply in populous areas? Can you have a knife in a hiking backpack in the woods?
If you are working, for example collecting rushes for thatching, you could reasonably make the case that you need a knife for work, if you are wandering through a wood or camping it would be difficult to persuade a court that you need a knife larger than that, for the fairly good reason that you don’t.
They’re not illegal to sell or purchase, they’re illegal to carry in public without a good reason. If you’re a tradesperson going about your business on a work day no copper would reasonably have cause to arrest you for having a locking Leatheman in your pocket, on your belt, or in your work bag. The same goes for a chef carrying a roll of kitchen knives to work or a hiker on the West Highland Way with a fixed blade bushcraft knife.
It’s where certain blades (fixed/locking, over a certain size) interact with what you’re doing that you get into difficulties.
I think it should be illegal to sell soda or fish & chips in public, given the impact they have had on public health as compare to the minuscule number of stabbings in the UK.
(I still think we should stop murdering each other though)
