(Adnkronos) – While in Italy there is discussion about the ban on the sale of weapons and knives to minors, since September of last year in Great Britain it has been considered ”illegal”, by law, ”to possess, sell, manufacture or carry dangerous knives and zombie-style machetes”. As stated on the British government website, the objective of the law was to ”remove these weapons from the streets and ensure the safety of young people” after numerous episodes, including fatal stabbings. First announced by then British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and presented to Parliament in London on January 25, 2024, the measures were preceded by a one-month transitional period during which citizens were invited to ”voluntarily surrender these dangerous weapons”.
The British Home Office explained that, since September, a ”total ban” has been in place regarding these weapons and ”anyone in possession of one of these knives could face a period of detention”. In the package of measures introduced by the British government to strengthen existing laws on knife crime, among the strictest in the world, it is also considered ”illegal to carry any type of knife in public without a valid reason, with a 4-year prison sentence”.
Since 2019, the British government recalls, ”the police have removed 120,000 knives from our streets through stops and searches and other targeted actions”. Thanks to the work of the agents, ”knife crimes have decreased by 5% since 2019 and hospital admissions for under-25s involved in stabbings have decreased by 25%. Violent crime has also decreased by 51% since 2010,” the British Home Office specifies in a note. With the criminal justice bill in force since September, the maximum penalty for possession of prohibited weapons has been increased from 6 months to 2 years, while anyone caught selling knives to minors under 18, even online, will have to serve 2 years in prison.
The police have also been given ”new powers to seize and destroy knives found on private property, if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the blade is being used to commit a serious crime,” British authorities explain. It is recalled that previously the police could not seize knives found during a search of a property, even if there was suspicion of criminal use. The new law amended the Criminal Justice Act of 1988.
