Apparently knife crime has gotten pretty bad in England
Does anyone seriously think that this is a solution or enforceable?
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There’s already another thread on this.
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So a few people call for a ban on something - it doesn’t mean any legislation will follow, or that there is a serious problem.
And all this time we’ve been told that gun control was the solution, and all this time we’ve been told that guns were the problem, and in our retorts we said that the criminals would go to some other weapons and that guns were not the problem.
I feel somewhat vindicated. What’s next? Baseball/cricket bats, sporks and Silly Putty? Wait a second, what am I saying? The “slippery slope” doesn’t exist. :rolleyes:
In what sense are you ‘vindicated’?
Gun control is indeed the solution (we have far less gun crime here than in the US).
What criminals have gone to what other weapons?
Why would anything else be ‘next’? There’s no legislation involved here.
Rather face a thug with a knife, I can outrun a knife.
Well, ANYTHING to increase safety, right? I mean, if we all just have to eat small food, because that’s all we have the ability to cut, that’s OK, as long as stupid, violent people are deprived of long knives, of course we’ll have to look next at all the other things stupid violent people might use as an alternative.
Blunt spoons, because they hurt more.
Silly person, never bring a knife to a gun fight. OK, I’m gonna go hide before you throw rocks at me 
My kung fu is strong. But a bullet is a bullet.
But do you have less violent crime? Do you really care if you are murdered by a knife as opposed to a gun?
As elucidator has pointed out, it’s a bit easier to escape from a knife.
Sure- but dead is still dead…if the murder rate from guns decreases but the overall rate stays the same, nothing has really been gained, has it?
I’ll try to pretend I’m serious for a bit. I don’t think this proposed ban will get of the ground. Knives are necessary in the kitchen. They are necessary in the local butcher shop. They serve a definite and well documented noncriminal purpose. I’d like to see someone carve a roast or a turkey with some little 3 inch knife. The point on the knife serves a purpose also. That’s why there are so many different types - drop point, pointy, etc. All for valid uses. Again, I don’t think this proposed ban has a chance. But, we could point to it as the dreaded slippery slope. England has very few guns compared to the U.S. and has stiff gun laws. So, bad people switch to knives. Now some people want to ban the knives. Looks like a slippery slope to me, but what do I know.
Cruising around this site enables me to tell you that the murder rate in the U.K. in 2000 was 0.01 per 1000 people, and in the U.S. in 1999 it was 0.04 per 1000 people. Assaults were also lower in the U.K., though not as markedly.
It is not about rate by country, but about the decrease or increase in the country that banned the guns.
Has violent crime gone up or down? Has homocide gone up or down? In that country.
Sure, but was it lower or higher before Gun Control? Lower, I’ll bet- although that was very long ago, I’ll admit.
My point wasn’t whether or not the UK has lower murder rates than the USA (it currently has, I’ll admit, but the number of guns doesn’t seem to be a factor). My point was- if a reduction in guns doesn’t net you a reduction in murder rate, has it netted anything positive? A “reduction in gun crimes” is meaningless. :rolleyes:
In the areas that have had recent gun controls enacted, there doesn’t seem to be any significant overall reduction in violent crimes or murder. Dudes just turn to illegal guns or another weapon.
You really think there’s nobody in the world who would commit a crime if a gun were available, but would think twice about it if all he had was a knife?
There was never any culture of gun ownership in the UK.
I can’t imagine this proposal going to law but just what slippery slope are you afraid of? The slippery slope to rocks being banned?
Your link doesnt say that knife crime is pretty bad, or common, or rising. It just says that violent crime (unspecified) is on the rise (which is itself disputed ), that kitchen knives are used in about half of all stabbings and that due to length of the blade they create serious wounds when used. Its this issue of wound severity that is prompting the call by these doctors not an epidemic of knife violence. Swords and other long bladed weapons are restricted for similar reasons in Australia and we’re not suffering from any significant amount of sword attacks.