Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Pointy Stick Law: Scotland

Here is one that pretty much makes me really glad to live in America.

A CRACKDOWN on Scotland’s knife crime "epidemic", which has seen stabbings hit three a week in the Capital, was unveiled by ministers today.

Under-18s will be banned from buying knives and the shops that sell them will have to apply for licenses.

The maximum jail sentence for carrying knives in public will be doubled to four years and the sale of samurai swords will be banned.

Police will also be given unconditional powers to arrest anyone they suspect is carrying a knife.

Scotland has the third highest rate of murders from stabbing in Europe. Police say three people are stabbed in Edinburgh in an average week.

Today, Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said she was determined to tackle the "weekend bloodshed that is cutting short too many young lives across Scotland".

She said: "Sharp instruments caused more than half the 108 homicides in Scotland in 2003.

Sharp instrument, pointy stick, I wasn't kidding.

1 comment:

Granted said...

Am I the only one that's noticed that people in Prison, where every single conceivable method of direct control over every single aspect of a persons lives are realized, seem to be able to kill one another with relative impunity? Take away the guns (however incompletely) and people will use knives. Take away the knives (which means we use spoons to cut up a steak?) and people will use clubs. Take a way clubs (closing all hardware stores, eliminating every single tree from the country, and forcing every building not made from poured concrete to be pulverised and rebuilt from appropriate material) and they're going to find something else to kill each other with.