Clayton Cramer points to a sad-but-true story about British researchers who want to ban kitchen knives. Apparently these days the sun never rises on the British Empire.
A team from West Middlesex University Hospital said violent crime is on the increase - and kitchen knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.They argued many assaults are committed impulsively, prompted by alcohol and drugs, and a kitchen knife often makes an all too available weapon.
The research is published in the British Medical Journal.
The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all.
Mr. Cramer goes on to suggest that all Britons be required to wear public safety suits that encase their hands and feet in foam so as to prevent them using any sort of heavy object as a blunt weapon. He says that biting someone to death is hard enough that Lecter-like masks shouldn't be necessary, but tell that to these guys.
I've got an idea! Instead of nerfing the world and banning everything that could be dangerous, why not just prohibit people from attacking each other? And then, if they do, we throw them in jail or execute them. The key is that we have to put them in jail long enough that they won't have another opportunity to hurt anyone for a long time. Such laws may or may not deter other would-be criminals, but just by taking thugs out of circulation we should be able to reduce crime drastically.
But what if they are otherwise law-adiding?
This is the exact thing that anti-gunners say will not or can't happen. Too funny - Espcially "The researchers said there was no reason for long pointed knives to be publicly available at all." That is the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard.
the prison population is already too large. Do you really want to pay the extra taxes to guard them all?
The key thing to realise is that violence is natural. It doesn't require drugs, alcohol or *evil* for someone to be violent, that's how we are naturally. It's not something to be surprised by when humans attack one another given the size of our cities -- it's really quite surprising that we don't attack one another more.
But I do think kitchen knives are generally useful enough to still be publically available. I like to butcher my own meat, gut my own fish etc. Just because some research recommends something, of course that doesn't mean it's going to happen. Scientists recommend that we stop fishing cod altogether in the North Sea (quite sensibly) but we don't do it.
jez: Well, I'd argue that our propensity towards violence is a symptom of our innate evil. And yes, no matter what you do with knives, you can't outlaw everything that can be used as a weapon.
...and after we get those knives collected we should go around and pick up all the rocks and sticks.
I just want to come out here and say that I am completely for knife and gun control.
You should always exercise sufficient control to hit what you are aiming at when using a gun or a knife.