Quote of the Day:
Having failed to disarm criminals with gun controls that they defy, British politicians are now turning their attention to implementing something new and different: knife control. Because criminals will be much more respectful of knife laws than of those targeted at firearms, I guess.
–Reason magazine in an article headlined "British Politicians Declare War on Knives"
London currently has a higher murder rate than New York.
New York may reassert its primacy, but the fascinating thing is that, if only temporarily and perhaps mostly because of a drop in New York murders, London, a city with tight gun control laws, has closed "the homicide gap" with New York.
Reason magazine's J. D. Tuccille writes:
The mayhem that's closed London's homicide gap with its trans-Atlantic rival appears to be largely the result of violent criminal gangs. Firearms are strictly restricted in the U.K., including a near-total ban on handguns. Nevertheless, "[i]n the 12 months to October 2017, there were 2,500 offences involving guns: a 16 per cent increase on the previous year and a 44 per cent increase on 2014," the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee noted in January. Criminals, it seems, are not averse to committing crimes—including the illegal acquisition of tools that help them commit more crimes.
Besides illegal guns, British criminals also use edged weapons, which have been a favorite tool for mayhem since the dawn of civilization.
You will not be surprised how some U.K. politicians want to respond to this crime:
Having failed to disarm criminals with gun controls that they defy, British politicians are now turning their attention to implementing something new and different: knife control. Because criminals will be much more respectful of knife laws than of those targeted at firearms, I guess.
"No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law," London's Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted on April 8.
Not to be outdone, his predecessor, Boris Johnson, currently Foreign Secretary, called for increased use of stop-and-search powers by police. "You have got to stop them, you have got to search them and you have got to take the knives out of their possession."
Poundland (the British equivalent of a dollar store) announced last week that it will no longer sell kitchen knives in any of its 850 stores. Similar stores are being slapped with fines for selling knives to minors.
Knives and guns, Tuccille points out, can be used by criminals but they can also be used defensively by law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. Knives are also quite useful. Like me, you very likely use one quite harmlessly at mealtimes.
Banning knives won't affect crime in the U.K.
But that doesn't mean banning guns won't be the next big cause.