this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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It's so annoying. I stopped carrying a knife regularly not because I stopped thinking it was a useful tool to always have but because while the law here does allow carried knives to be defined as tools, if you bring them in to certain places, they automatically get considered weapons and carrying any weapon is illegal (in most circumstances). So if I happen to go to a bar and have my knife in my pocket, it could result in a possession of an illegal weapon charge.
I hate laws that assume intents based on triggers that aren't necessarily associated with those assumed intents, like "carrying a weapon implies intent to hurt/kill someone", "having possession of your keys anywhere near your car while drunk implies intent to drive drunk (even if you're sleeping in the back seat)", or "carrying more than some arbitrary amount of drugs implies intent to sell", like anyone who shops at Costco intends to open up their own store. Lazy fucking laws.
Don’t get me started on how stupid knife laws are in general.
Here in the Netherlands, thankfully there aren’t many restrictions. You can basically carry 95 percent of common knives on you. Locking folders, fixed blades, generally legal unless expressly probhibited.
We can’t own or carry certain types like gravity knives and butterfly knives. Why? “Because… well, fuck you, because we say so.”
If I hop across the border to Germany, knife laws are more restrictive. Can’t have any form of locking knife, so that takes out most folders you’d want to carry. And if I went to other countries, they too have different laws. In France, you can own an OTF for example. And in the US, laws vary from state to state.
Now, what does all that tell us? That knife laws are inherently made up bullshit by politicians and lawmakers who have NO FUCKING CLUE what they’re doing. Because if knife laws made sense, we’d have a fairly consistent set of them. And they tend to ignore that most actual knife crime happens with cheapo kitchen or utility knives. Nobody’s getting stabbed with a 500 euro safe queen.
The knife is one of mankind’s oldest tools. It should be legal to carry everywhere and every form. Knives don’t stab people, people stab people.
Yeah, the way I see it is those easy to deploy knives are most useful if you're being ambushed. If you're planning an ambush or attack, you'll have plenty of time to get your weapon ready. Also, if you're planning an attack, you're probably not concerned with following the laws at all. You know, the whole "if you outlaw x, only outlaws will have x".
I'm curious what the line of thought behind no locking blades at all in Germany is. Also curious if they banned carrying fighting whips/crops in the century since Hitler did that as a hobby (which I'd consider almost purely an offensive weapon since they are more likely to just piss off an attacker if used defensively, unless they are one of those bullies that flees at the first sign of resistance).
With regards to locking knives: most people would say that a locking blade is 'safer' to use and more capable of stabbing someone than say, a Swiss army knife, which would fold on your hand if you tried stabbing with it. But in regards to the actual laws that countries write and enforce, there's usually not even a reason listed for such a prohibition in places that have such bans.
For Germany, section 42A of the Weapons Act applies. That basically states (official english translation):
The original German for 'blade which can be fixed' (feststellbarer Klinge) is what we would refer to as a locking blade. It doesn't even attempt to give a reason as to why.
In the UK, where a knife with a locking mechanism is illegal as well, the Lancashire Police says only this:
So this has a lot of contradictions in it. That first sentence makes no sense: 'a lock knife is not a folding pocket knife', when clearly there are knives, with locks, that fold. 'A lock knife has blades that can be locked and refolded only by pressing a button'. OK, so a button lock is illegal. Which means a liner lock is OK, right? But no. 'A lock knife has a mechanism which locks the blade in position when fully extended'. So now we've abandoned that button, and have moved on to mechanism... And then we get some form of argument as to why this all is banned: 'A lock knife is not an offensive weapon per se, as these knives were made with a specific purpose in mind were not intended as a weapon. However, possession of a lock knife in a public place without good reason is an offence.'
So there's a 'not offensive weapon per se', but also 'posession with no good reason is an offence'
Basically, the only thing you can reasonably have on you is a non-locking small Swiss army knife. Anything that even hints at a lock? That's a crime. Why? Fuck you, because we say so.
Yeah knife crime, like gun crime, isn't an engineering issue. Shit like butterfly knives or spring-loaded switchblades are illegal because that's what the bad guys had in some movie.