Over the weekend, London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a new “knife control” initiative to crack down on the city’s rise in murder rates, which surpassed that of New York City despite tough gun control measures.
Conservatives rightly pointed out that the new policy gives life to the age-old slippery slope scenario. Now that Britain has largely disarmed their populace of firearms, conservatives reason that knives are the next target. But even knives are not the problem, according to the Regents Park Police, who recently boasted on their Twitter account of confiscating a pair of scissors, some pliers and a screwdriver during a so-called “weapons sweep.”
Basically, the common toolbox carries within it an arsenal of mayhem and could potentially be confiscated in a “weapons sweep.” Needless to say, the Twitter trolls had the right idea:
Prior to Khan’s announcement, “knife control” had already become a major cause in the island across the Atlantic as far back as 2014. Here’s an excerpt from a news article in 2014 that even Snopes could not dispute:
The new “Save a Life — Surrender Your Knife” program is in full swing and police are telling us that they have joined forces with an already growing trend in the United Kingdom to ban “pointy” knives.
Lancashire Police tell us that an “amnesty” program began at the end of August, and “more than 800 knives have been handed in across the county — including swords, machetes and commando knives.”
“The amnesty was extended for a further week owing to its success,” Lancashire Police representatives explained.
The Lancashire department explains that their “officers have now given their backing to a national initiative designed to raise awareness of knife crime and encourage the surrender of dangerous weapons.”
The pro-knife control group “‘Save a Life — Surrender Your Knife” still remains and has not been decommissioned. According to the BBC, demonstrations against knife crime go as far back as 2008, when as many as “1,000 people have marched through London to a peace rally, calling for an end to knife crime.”