Knife crime is Britain has hit an all-time high. London’s murder rate was higher than New York’s last year and they’re on track to have even more murders this year than in 2018. Clearly, something needs to be done, and Britain has no shortage of bad ideas. Since 2014, there has been an 80 percent rise in knife crime.
They tried a “Knife Surrender Bin” wherein people could safely turn in their knives. That didn’t work out so well after at least one was broken into and the contents stolen. In Nottinghamshire, police purchased 100 kitchen knives with dull ends and distributed them to homes where there is a high risk for domestic abuse.
Now, church leaders in England are calling for the government to ban pointy knives all together, signing on to a letter which reads:
Historically we needed a point on the end of our knife to pick up food because forks weren’t invented. Now we only need the point to open packets when we can’t be bothered to find the scissors.
A five-year study in Edinburgh found that of the sharp instruments used in homicides, 94 per cent were kitchen knives. Research demonstrates kitchen knives are used in a large percentage of homicides due to their availability and lethal nature.
Criminologists have demonstrated that reducing availability in turn reduces crime.At Rochester Cathedral, a statue called “Knife Angel” (yes, it’s literally an angel made of knives) is currently on display along with a book which people can sign, pledging not to carry knives.
The UK has worked for the public good by restricting handguns, paracetamol, smoking in public and plastic bags – now it is time to say ‘no bloody point’.
I doubt the people signing this book are the people who were going to go on a stabbing spree. That’s the problem with these initiatives, just like gun control ideas in America.Remember the halcyon days of a couple of years ago when we used to joke that Britain would soon try to ban “assault knives”?
Satire has become reality. The problem isn’t with weapons, it’s with people. We need to get to why people are stabbing each other in such drastically larger numbers.
And, maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem that hard to sharpen a knife if you’re determined to use one.
If we spent this much time, money, and energy on making people less murdery, the weapons wouldn’t even be an issue.
https://www.redstate.com/ameliahamilton/2019/09/29/church-leaders-suggest-bonkers-remedy-to-knife-violence-in-england/
