Madin on 1/3/2006 at 02:07
If its one of the leatherman types were the blade locks then its ilegal. I've had police try to confiscate my leatherman despite me using it for work.
D'Juhn Keep on 1/3/2006 at 02:15
Really? Well that's pretty crazy. The blade on it is 2 inches, by the way. So they tried to confiscate yours? Did you manage to persuade them that it was for work and they left you alone or did you make a break for it? ;)
jay pettitt on 1/3/2006 at 02:21
Locking knives aren't explicitly illegal; however they arn't considered folding/pocket knives, so you need good reason to have one in a public place - even if the blade is 3 inches or less.
TheGreatGodPan on 1/3/2006 at 05:07
I haven't heard any explanation for why mace/pepper spray isn't allowed in England. That just strikes me as silly.
Not that it will likely make a difference to anyone here, but is there any evidence that criminal use of knives decreased after the laws passed?
d0om on 1/3/2006 at 08:41
I don't think its supposed to affect the hardended criminal, more to lower the rates of knife / gang violence / people being stabbed in clubs by paranoid highs by discouraging the carrying of knives.
Although a lot of knife violence is still appearing on BBC news.
Gingerbread Man on 1/3/2006 at 09:58
Quote Posted by TheGreatGodPan
I haven't heard any explanation for why mace/pepper spray isn't allowed in England. That just strikes me as silly.
First off, Mace is illegal for civilians to own / use in most sensible countries, as it's a brand of tear gas. In the USA, tear gas is sort of state-by-state in terms of regulation and legality. I think it's still regulated enough in general that minors and convicted felons aren't allowed to own it. And using it for any reason other than self-defense (including "it was a joke" and "I was mad at him") is generally met with a pretty stiff fine and/or prison vacation.
Pepper spray / capsaicin / whatever falls under "inflammatories" rather than "irritants" -- though I'm sure that's a strange distinction better understood by a chemist -- and is illegal for civilian use in the UK as it falls under Section 5 (1) (b) of the Firearms Act which is the bit prohibiting any and all weapons designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious gas or liquid. And before anyone goes all smart-arse, a) a can of hairspray isn't intended to be used as a weapon first and foremost, and b) I didn't word the bloody laws.
Technically non-lethal, it's like anything else: Given the wrong circumstances you can kill someone with it. The ACLU claims to have documented 14 fatalities (I'm assuming these are levelled at the cops) from pepper spray, but I'm betting those happened when asthmatics got caught in the massive amounts of pepper spray you might expect to find at a <s>protest</s> riot. Or something.
Anyway, point is that mace and pepper spray are illegal in the UK because they are classified as noxious chemicals and you're not allowed to spray them on people.
(and apparently you're allowed to use pepper spray to defend yourself against bears in most states, but not tear gas / Mace)
dvrabel on 1/3/2006 at 10:18
Quote Posted by Gingerbread Man
And before anyone goes all smart-arse, a) a can of hairspray isn't intended to be used as a weapon first and foremost, and b) I didn't word the bloody laws.
If you carried a can of hairspray in the UK with the intent of using it as a weapon then that would be illegal. The police would have a hard time proving this intent (unless you were bald of course).
At least that's my understanding...
Gingerbread Man on 1/3/2006 at 10:22
Well, yes. That falls under the "'Allo, 'allo, 'allo, wot 'ave we 'ere?" Law of 1972. The same one that makes the fuzz look at you sideways if you're carrying a baseball bat or a length of bike chain around in the night with nary a baseball game nor bicycle in sight.
Myoldnamebroke on 1/3/2006 at 10:38
Quote Posted by jay pettitt
Locking knives aren't explicitly illegal; however they arn't considered folding/pocket knives, so you need good reason to have one in a public place - even if the blade is 3 inches or less.
I think they're outlawed in the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959. It's because you can flick them open like a switch blade, it's just the force to open the blade comes from gravity not from a spring or something.
Naartjie on 1/3/2006 at 13:01
Quote:
Originally posted by Phydeaux:You're the one contridicting himself. I mentioned rights twice because I'm talking about TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. Or actually I'm not. I'm talking about oen thing, and you're talking about another, and you're getting them confused.
Ok, so you used the word "rights" twice
because you meant two different things. Glad to see you've got this 'argument' thing all worked out.
(This is your cue to sit down and be quiet, in case that passed you by as well)
TheGreatGodPan...has just stumbled across another pet hate of mine, namely saying 'England' when you mean 'Britain', because England legislated itself out of existence 300 years ago.
