Politicians in the United Kingdom are engaging in useless efforts to restrict knives, Reason contributing editor J.D. Tuccille wrote in a column.
The U.K. strictly prohibits guns, with a near-total ban on handguns. However, the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee noted that offenses involving guns rose 16 percent in 2017 from 2016, Tuccille noted.
"Criminals, it seems, are not averse to committing crimes — including the illegal acquisition of tools that help them commit more crimes," the contributing editor wrote.
Tuccille noted the efforts to prohibit knife use, including the British dollar store Poundland ending sales of knives.
"It all sounds so familiar, doesn't it? And yet so utterly pointless. If British authorities have been unable to block criminals' access to firearms — mechanical devices that require some basic mechanical skill to manufacture, or at least a 3D printer — how are they going to cut off the flow of knives, which require nothing more than a piece of material that can take an edge?" Tuccille wrote.
"There are also practical downsides to discouraging the public from possessing knives—one of the oldest and most useful tools ever invented," he added.
British politicians have proposed a ban on home delivery of knives, The Telegraph reported. It is already illegal for anyone to sell a knife to someone who is under 18.
Bans on knives will only affect innocent people, says Tucille, and "the law looks much more likely to inconvenience peaceful people planning to carve a roast than to put off thugs who, push comes to shove, can find a way to sharpen a piece of rebar against a rock."
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