Sword Ban

The UK's handgun ban has been such a resounding success (a massive increase in criminal use of handguns) that the government is considering using the same tactic against samurai swords.

The Home Office has confirmed plans to outlaw the weapons in England and Wales after putting forward the idea earlier this year.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said there was a clear danger to the public posed by easily-available swords.

Now, you'd expect there to have been a massive number of deaths for such a draconian measure but you'd be completely wrong.

The Home Office estimates there have been some 80 attacks in recent years involving Samurai-style blades, leading to at least five deaths.

The Association of Chief Police Officers has backed the Home office move saying that while the weapon is relatively uncommon, there is justification for a ban.

And the ban aims to stop short of banning all samurai swords, focusing on on cheap, poorly made, imitation weapons- you know the ones usually made with blunt blades for decorative purposes only. Not only will the wealthy continue to be allowed to buy the real thing- blades much more lethal- but so too will martial arts students. So while really cheap blades are banned, martial artists will still be permitted to buy "mid-range" weapons. From what I know of the market I'm guessing that blades of around a £100 and up will escape (some of them seem to be directed specifically at martial artists)- although the government seems to be particularly hazy on the details. They also don't seem to be aware that samurai swords are only a portion of those being currently sold- will the ban also affect broad swords, rapiers, or the humble gladius? There also seems to be no provision for movie replicas- will fans be able to continue to buy Blade's sword for example? Or imitation weapons from Kill Bill or The Matrix?

There's no mention of what the government will do about criminals using samurai swords already purchased before the ban, or axes, or kitchen knives, or going out and sharpening a bit of metal themselves. Have they heard of shivs one wonders?

They also tried to ban "realistic imitation firearms" recently (replica weapons, cigarette lighter weapons and airsoft weapons predominantly)- a sure step to combat a rising tide of real gun crime. The guns are still available to sell- only now some of them are painted yellow or, for airsoft, you can join a local skirmishers group and buy the same thing anyway. It doesn't appear to have occurred to law-makers that there's such a thing as black paint.

Anyway, I'm off to go buy a sword now. Just before I go, another point to make- it's already illegal to have a sword in public- a measure which evidently has done nothing to reduce crime; so the government is going to make it illegal twice.

Carrying a samurai sword in a public place already carries a maximum jail sentence of four years.

For a list of weapons already banned- considered "offensive weapons"- see here. Interesting to note that the telescoping baton, currently issued to the police for day-to-day carry, is prohibited to the mere citizen.