# Now they come for your knives... next... your sporks. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733 "2005-05-27T06:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/1 "2005-05-27T06:31:31Z")
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm) I give europe 60 years before everyone is locked in a room with rubber walls for their own safety. Unfortunately, that means I give the US about 75 years for the same. Think of the children. No one needs these assault kitchen knives… ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/2 "2005-05-27T06:50:34Z")
What the everloving \*?!!! **Ten** top chefs found no use for long knives? I suppose they don’t have to carve up much meat, they have assistants do that, so didn’t consider that use, eh? RAWR, the stupid, it _ **burns** _! ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/3 "2005-05-27T07:29:01Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > What the everloving \*?!!! **Ten** top chefs found no use for long knives? For crying out loud, read the whole cite! :rolleyes: Long **pointed** knives. My carving knife has a rounded end and is no less effective on the fourth Thursday in November. OTOH, wasn’t the virtual elimination of privately-owned firearms supposed to eliminate violent crime in the UK? Now it’s long pointy knives. Next year, trees will be felled and burned if they produce long pointy sticks. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/4 "2005-05-27T07:34:32Z")
After that pointed comments will be banned. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![La\_Llorona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@La\_Llorona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/La_Llorona)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/5 "2005-05-27T08:34:31Z")
I don’t know…on the one hand, they’re curtailing our civil liberties, dude! But on the other hand, you can find enormous, wicked-looking knives at the dollar store, and I’m sure that’s only an encouragement to those with nefarious motives. Maybe if there was a semi-heavy tax on knives to discourage people from buying them? ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/6 "2005-05-27T09:00:24Z")
I accidentally cut my leg with my razor yesterday. I think we should ban them too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/7 "2005-05-27T09:12:49Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I give europe 60 years before everyone is locked in a room with rubber walls for their own safety. No fair blaming British nuttiness on the rest of us ☹ (Scandinavians, for instance, have a relationship with knives that sometimes still freaks out my American cultural baggage. Like, say, teaching preschoolers to whittle… with their own belt knives…) ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/8 "2005-05-27T09:32:54Z")
Call me crazy but it sounds like a pretty good idea to me, if something is being made that has features whose sole practical use seems to be injuring other people, perhaps selling it isn’t such a hot idea. I hate the whole nanny state thing as much as the next guy but this does make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/9 "2005-05-27T09:42:31Z")
Pointy or dull, the edge will still slit throats nicely, and can cause very ugly superficial wounds on places like the face. The image of the wound they showed was from slashing, not stabbing. They are going after a symptom, not the cause. They’ll have to ban cricket bats, and golf clubs etc. next. They’ll have to have special licensing for things like hammers and saws too. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/10 "2005-05-27T09:58:48Z")
…is it only me, or does stuff like this ever give anyone else the feeling that the civilized world is going to end up getting torn apart by the machinations of insane, overzealous liberals on one side, and insane, overzealous conservatives on the other? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/11 "2005-05-27T11:01:25Z")
**Zabali** ’s right, the pictured knife wound was a slashing wound, which I dare say you could manage with a sharp jackknife, much less a kitchen knife. Their “top chefs” are on crack - those long slim knives are used when carving large cuts of meat or deboning fish, and it’s hard to manage with any other kind of knife. Well, OK, maybe they - or more likely, their assistants - have sufficient skills to manage without one, but that’s like giving someone a handsaw and telling them they don’t need a chainsaw for that huge tree. They might do the job, but it’ll take a long time and be very ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/12 "2005-05-27T11:40:42Z")
Well, let’s not get carried away, folks. This isn’t proposed policy - it’s a suggestion by one team of A&E (ER in US-speak) doctors from one hospital. It doesn’t name the “top chefs” but considering that the UK is awash with egotistical celeb chefs who’d be happy to get their name in the paper in any connection, I suspect that the doctor’s definition of “top” is slightly different from most people’s. Plus, when you look at what the chef’s apparently agreed to, it’s difficult not to suspect the survey was along the lines of:“But, if you had to, you could do without, couldn’t you? Please say yes.” But the important information here is the response from government and police. > [@BBC](#): > > The Home Office spokesman said there were already extensive restrictions in place to control the sale and possession of knives." . And then listed them at some length. This is a polite way of saying “No sale.” > [@BBC](#): > > A spokesperson for the Association of Chief Police Officers said: “ACPO supports any move to reduce the number of knife related incidents, however, **it is important to consider the practicalities of enforcing such changes**.” My bolding. The cops can’t publicly tell A&E doctors to stop whining on, but that’s a pretty clear hint that they’re not in favour. This is a non-story on a slow news day. Oh, and just to clarify: > [@sewak](#): > > OTOH, wasn’t the virtual elimination of privately-owned firearms supposed to eliminate violent crime in the UK? No, it wasn’t. It was supposed to reduce gun crime - specifically, gun-crimes commited by previously law abiding legal firearms owners. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/13 "2005-05-27T15:33:17Z")
I agree completely with amrussell. If you’re going to start threads making sweeping overblown statements about a possible UK policy which is not likely to happen, could you tell me: - how well the US War on Drugs is going? - how much has it cost so far? - when are you going to win it? ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/14 "2005-05-27T15:33:58Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > They’ll have to ban cricket bats, and golf clubs etc. next. They’ll have to have special licensing for things like hammers and saws too. The difference here is that in a heated argument how many people are going to find a cricket bat or golf club close to hand? The same for hammers and saws, they aren’t just left around the home but kitchen knives are frequently on racks in plain view and can easily be picked up in the heat of the moment and turned into a lethal weapon, far more lethal than bats or clubs. The comparison really doesn’t hold up. Yes the wound pictured is a slashing wound but it is also non-lethal, you could argue that picture supports the case for banning pointed knives rather than supporting the case to keep them. The thing is slashings wounds aren’t the biggest problem, they would rarely be lethal unless well directed whereas stabbing wounds can be lethal with little or no “aiming”. I wouldn’t agree with banning them entirely either, i’m no chef but i’m sure there are uses for pointed knives. There is no reason you couldn’t sell specialist knives to deal with fish and meat but there is no need for every knife in the rack to have a sharp point. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/15 "2005-05-27T15:39:14Z")
I think we should take away the Doctor’s scapels and see how they like it 😉 This is just a way of suppressing women, men get to keep their golf clubs for killing people, but women lose their cooking knives… (yes I’m not serious) ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/16 "2005-05-27T16:02:17Z")
On NPR last night, they interviewed one of the doctors who authored the paper. Her justifications came off as being extraordinarily weak. She says that people in domestic kitchens do not need pointy knives that are longer than five centimeters long. That’s a _very_ short knife–even shorter than most paring knives. When asked how a person is supposed to carve a turkey or a leg of lamb with a knife that is only 3 inches long, or alternatively with a non-pointed knife, she had a hard time coming up with an answer. Then the interviewer pointed out that NPR had talked to ten chefs who said a pointed knife was necessary for carving and cutting through joints. She had no solution–she just admitted that yes, that’s a problem, and offered no solution. The interviewer next pointed out that the home is full of lethal objects, like hammers and baseball bats and so forth, that could be used in crimes of passion. Again, the doctor had no real answer to that. Pretty unconvincing. > [@mittu](#): > > The difference here is that in a heated argument how many people are going to find a cricket bat or golf club close to hand? The same for hammers and saws, they aren’t just left around the home but kitchen knives are frequently on racks in plain view and can easily be picked up in the heat of the moment and turned into a lethal weapon, far more lethal than bats or clubs. The comparison really doesn’t hold up. Sure it does. My mom has a wicked, heavy metal hammer in the kitchen for tenderizing meat. She keeps it in a crock right next to the knives. She also has a pair of kitchen shears, used for snipping stuff like grapes. Those are right there in the crock next to the hammer. A rack full of heavy cooking pans and pots hangs right over the stove–some just the right size for bludgeoning. She’s got a big fork on that rack, used in carving, with sharp tines longer than five centimeters. I have a hammer and two screwdrivers lying on the counter in my kitchen right now. I was hanging pictures last night. My parents keep theirs in a drawer in the kitchen. My best friend’s husband keeps his softball bat in an umbrella stand in the kitchen. His golf clubs are in a bag in the garage, just outside the door to the kitchen. Normal kitchens are full of lethal objects. Maybe what we ought to be doing is educating people about domestic abuse, and helping people get out of abusing situatiosn? A person who murders a family member in the heat of passion with a kitchen knife probably wasn’t a nice, gentle person up until that moment. (The doctor did indicate that the most prevalent type of stabbing situation was two family members who happen to be arguing in a kitchen.) Banning every object that a few miscreants will use as a murder weapon is no solution. It’s fighting the symptom, instead of the underlying problem. ---
**Author:** ![hildea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ebca7d/32.png) [@hildea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hildea)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/17 "2005-05-27T16:06:08Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Think of the children. > [@flodnak](#): > > (Scandinavians, for instance, have a relationship with knives that sometimes still freaks out my American cultural baggage. Like, say, teaching preschoolers to whittle… with their own belt knives…) I’ll agree that letting preschoolers walk around with knives in their belts might be slightly on the unsafe side. My children got whittling knives when they were five (good quality sharp knives, of course – blunt knives are dangerous), but they were only allowed to use the knives when there were grown ups nearby. I was pleasantly surprised when the day care started teaching the children whittling at age five. Predictably, there were a few minor wounds (the worst one resulted in a few stiches), and equally predictably, there were no serious wounds. I remember idly wondering if those few stiches would have resulted in a lawsuit in the US. I don’t see rubber walls looming in this corner of Europe, anyway 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/18 "2005-05-27T16:36:04Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > (Scandinavians, for instance, have a relationship with knives that sometimes still freaks out my American cultural baggage. Like, say, teaching preschoolers to whittle… with their own belt knives…) Maybe I can blame my Swedish ancestry for the hog sticker I like to carry when I can’t have my gun… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/19 "2005-05-27T16:38:20Z")
> [@hildea](#): > > I don’t see rubber walls looming in this corner of Europe, anyway 🙂 That’s because Scandanavians are generally sane. Unlike others… 😃 If they are worried about weapons “at hand,” then surely the solution is to remove everybody’s **hands**! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733/20 "2005-05-27T17:04:12Z")
> [@hildea](#): > > I’ll agree that letting preschoolers walk around with knives in their belts might be slightly on the unsafe side. My children got whittling knives when they were five (good quality sharp knives, of course – blunt knives are dangerous), but they were only allowed to use the knives when there were grown ups nearby. > I was pleasantly surprised when the day care started teaching the children whittling at age five. Predictably, there were a few minor wounds (the worst one resulted in a few stiches), and equally predictably, there were no serious wounds. I remember idly wondering if those few stiches would have resulted in a lawsuit in the US. > I don’t see rubber walls looming in this corner of Europe, anyway 🙂 My paternal grandfather started teaching me how to whittle when I was five. Unfortunately he passed away not long after, but he did teach me about how to safely deal with blades when I was very young. Served me well in life. (other than one unfortunate incident whilst camping when I was 15. That was mostly due to the fact that, at the age of 15, I was amazingly idiotic and refused to listen to any sort of authority. Also, it doesn’t count because you can barely see the scar today.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/now-they-come-for-your-knives-next-your-sporks/305733.md?page=2)