Alreet all, Just seen this in the local news: I highlighted the important bit. What does everyone think of this? Chances of being made law? Anth
Theres two points there, the banning and handing in. I can't see people handing weapons in without some argument, especially the people likely to do harm with them. Maybe the law should be changed, as none of us have a need to have a sharp samurai sword A blunt one is just as decorative, although it can still be sharpened!
Jeez. I don't know the background on why he was stabbed or what the relationship was to the attacker.... and I can understand how his mom has chosen the sword to focus her energies on... but... 1) I'm guessing the number of people killed with swords, Japanese or of any kind are pretty small. Had this been two centuries ago... the her attempt to ban may have made more sense. 2) Obviously it sounds like she is choosing to focus on the sword because she is in a state of grief and shock and perhaps in a state of denial. 3) So if someone was killed by someone else with a car... then we should ban cars? What about the person killed by falling debris? Let's ban falling debris! It sounds tragic... again I dunno... her son could have been a raging drug addict/loser/Bush supporter/pimp/pedophile.... and brought it on himself. But either way... I don't see the point in banning swords. Generally if someone wants you bad enough they'll get you with a fruit knife rather than a Katana... but you can't exactly ban fruit knives... can you. Err... can you?! Though judging from the number of people that request information on this site because they're about to buy a 100,000,000 fold/layer Katana or some such nonsense it's not surprising that more accidents don't happen. It all realy depends on how mollycoddling the current administration is in the UK I guess. edit: FWIW I originally come from the US where we have guns, knives and swords. I believe in the current interpetation of the 5th Ammendmant right to bear arms. Whether or not we should arm bears is a different matter all together.
Hmm... apparently not as rare as I thought: Though it's duly noted... to the general public 9and probably the media) anything other than a broadsword and a butterknife could get called a 'Samurai-type sword'.
This women is utter bollocks. Does she think that banning swords is actually going to do anything? Banning weapons doesnt stop them being used to kill. Look at guns. People still shoot people in the UK. Granted not as many as in the US, not by along way. But it still happends. If criminals are intent on cause some ultra violence, they will get the swords, even if you do outlaw them.
And it has worked, shootings are relatively low in the UK. People say guns are banned in the UK, but aren't they just restricted and you can have the with the right licences and storage Maybe if you did the same thing with bladed weapons. Unless you have a legitimate reason to have one then why? No they don't look nice on your living room wall!
ok boys... some amunition for those in favor of being able to keep their swords.. guess the showing up with a samurai sword to gunfight isn't the same thing as a knife to a gunfight!
In the UK 60% of assaults with bladed weapons happen in the house in domestic incidents, and most ouside the house happen with cooks knives of some description,(sarcasm) therefore the obvious solution is to ban all kitchen knives and we can all eat pre-processed rubbish all the time.(/sarcasm) Also in the UK last week an assailant was chased away from the woman he was attacking by a neighbour with a sword and the media hardly mentioned it.
I suspected as much. This is where McDonalds and the powers that be are complicit! Why I oughtta!!! Yes, I am sure the arguement to ban for or against can go either way for basicallly infinity. And there would be probably enough media reports to back either side. The numerous articles above are but a small sample of my collection.
(bold face added by nitpicky history teacher) I believe a pesky typing mistake marred your reference to the 2nd amendment
What's next for the UK? Prevent rape by banning males? Weapons are merely tools. Would it be better if her son were killed with a rock? Evil resides in the hearts of man, not in inert objects.
I can state with absolute and unequivocal certainty, I will never surrender my collection of Japanese swords or, stop using them within my personal study of BUDO. That’s a fact.
Okay to clear this up a little. Handguns (with the exception of long barrel revolvers) are outright banned in the UK it is IMPOSSIBLE to get civilian ownership of one legally. Since DUnblane and the banning of handguns in the UK the number of handgun related homicides in the UK has almost tripled. Banning sword wont rteduce the number of fatal bladed weapon attacks, it'sll just change the nature of the attack. It's true that noone needs a sharp sword in the UK, and good mag-alloy Iaito will do just as well for everything except batto, which is correctly practised by a statistically insignificant minority in the UK. Almost all "Samurai sword" attacks in the UK occur with 440 steel, knife sharpened blades. NOT shinken, nihonto or any kind of "real" samurai style sword. The above said I do intend to get a sharp, carbopn steel sword shortly. Not a katana mind you. I am after the United Cutlery Banshee, which is a hybrid between a burmese Da and a Thai Krabbi. The reason for this is that Krabbi are almost impossible to find in the UK and I want to have a decent facsimile for Krabi Krabong training. I WILL be blunting the blade as soon as it arrives.
Im afraid your wrong there. As a member of a gun club you are permitted to own one, it does however need to be stored at the club grounds, but you CAN still buy them..... as a regular visitor to a local club, Ive held and fired many legal handguns in NI
