Do you carry a knife?

[Benbow]

Is anyone else uneasy about the recent proposals for an automatic 5 year prison sentence for carrying a knife 'without good cause'?

A gun has only one function while a knife is a valuable tool. I can certainly see that some people do carry a knife only as a weapon, but I regularly find myself in a public place with a sailing knife in my pocket and it worries me that I could be arrested on the whim of a policeman and then somehow have to prove that I had a legitimate reason for carrying it.

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[ccscott49]

I stopped carrying my boating knife, because oof exactly that, I was almost arrested for ahving my boating knife on my belt, totally forgot it was there, in the pub! They were very annoyed! But let me go when they were convinced I was a genuine yachty. I stopped carrying it after that and it stays in the wheelhouse now. Except abroad, in places like Barcelona at night!

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[LaurenceK]

I am never without my Leatherman attached to my belt, even to the extent that when I go out to dinner in the evening I automatically clip it on. The recent publicity about knives is going to force me to me more sensible but whenever I'm on the way to or from the boat I will keep it with me.

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[Evadne]

The same pressure group also, according to the news report, wanted to ban the sale of all knives. A later (BBC) news item amended this to "all knives shorter than 3 inches long" which makes me suspicious of just how accurate the reporting is on the subject. A better law would be one that allowed a copper to arrest you for carrying an offensive weapon, which I believe we already have.

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[ccscott49]

I also think the police might be a bit more reasonable, when takling into consideration, what the person looks like, age etc who has the knife, where he is and what he was doing with it. He's hardly going to arrest you for filleting fish on the quayside! One would hope anyway! But coming out of the pub, 17 years old, pissed and a skinhead, might be in a bit of trouble. (do they still have skinheads?)

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[snowleopard]

i too have been stopped by the police on the way back from the boat with my knife still on my belt.

the proposal is only so far in the form of a demand by a group of victims so i don't think we can have a go at the press for inaccuracy (just yet anyway).

remember that the proposal is for a mandatory sentence so if a policeman takes a dislike to you and decides not to exercise his discretion then the courts would be forced to bang you up for not taking off your capt. curry's before stepping ashore.

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[Talbot]

What was even worse was the knife that was being displayed as an example of those that should be banned was a diver's knife! I sympathise with the victims (and their families) of these viscious crimes, but they need to give this considerably more thought.

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[Benbow]

But isn't that the problem? It becomes entirely a copper's judgement. Surely the law must require evidence of intent to use as a weapon, in which case, as has been said, there is already a law in place.

I know many professional sailiors who never move without their knife, who are young and look distinctly scary (especially after a week at sea), who occasionally get somewhat merry in the pub but who would never dream of using their knife as a weapon.

So while we middle aged WASPs may be confident in the 'reasonableness' of the police, there are plently of people who don't fit the stereotype but are not potential killers.

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[Wiggo]

Think they turned the law on this one around. Yuo can carry a knife, but only if you have 'good reason' to do so.

<hr width=100% size=1>Hung like Einstein, and smart as a horse.

 

[Gunfleet]

Personally, I can't keep the Capt Curry sharp to save my life! Anyone else have this problem? It solves the problem with the copper anyway 'no officer, it's not a knife it's a piece of blunt stainless steel'

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[Roy]

Well. ye see officer..I'm a trainee burglar and need this so that if i get caught breaking into a house, I need the knife to defend myself against householders who are allowed to use all possible reasonable force against me!

<hr width=100% size=1>Make your own happiness!

 

[Wiggo]

No, that won't wash. The State removed the right of householders to self-defence since our omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent police force protect us during every moment of every hour. So you don't need it to protect yourself from any marauding homeowner. Even if you do meet a rogue one, you're better off getting attacked as the compensation's far better.

So you're nicked. Or you would be, but I'm going off shift in five hours, and I can't be bothered with the paperwork. Now, on your way...

<hr width=100% size=1>Hung like Einstein, and smart as a horse.

 

[ccscott49]

I see your point, but if you are pissed in the pub, even if you are a wonderful person, normally, should you really have a boat knife on your person?? I dont think so! I have seen some very upstanding people get into all kinds of trouble fighting when legless. But of course thats a personal opinion.

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[snowleopard]

capt currey is an excellent knife for slicing the baguette and spreading the butter. to cut tough materials like string, an old green river knife is the thing.

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[Benbow]

Certainly no-one *should* be intoxicated in the pub with a knife in his pocket. But in the past I have fallen off a boat into a pub and settled down to a session in my stinky sailing clothes, knife and all. It would seem a little harsh to lock me up for 5 years for forgetting to leave my knife behind.



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[Gunfleet]

Dunno - what is a green river knife? The one I keep in the cockpit for serious work is a tesco's breadknife. I don't think even a dopey modern copper could construe that as an offensive weapon... ' I thought the defendant was going to kneel on his chest and saw his arm off when I caught him'. I do have a stanley of box cutter fame but I never use it since the blade slipped on something and stabbed myself in the thumb with it. The blood spurted 4 inches high!

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[ccscott49]

I would think if in a pub, next to the marina and in sailing garb etc. That even a copper who would do his granny would be unlikely to arrest you. But if he arrested you for drunk and disorderly and then found a knife on you?? What would you do?

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[ShipsWoofy]

But coming out of the pub, 17 years old, pissed and a skinhead, might be in a bit of trouble. (do they still have skinheads?)

Although never a skinhead, I would have been stuffed when leaving the pub after returning from working on boats. We would often nip in for a last pint on the way home, I would always have a knife. After being almost twatted by uncle for arriving on board without a knife on one trip, I never let myself go on without one after that.

Unfortunately appearances are not everything.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=red>Woof</font color=red>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk/P.html>Posting pictures tutor</A>

 

[SlowlyButSurely]

What on earth do you chaps need to carry a knife on a yacht for? We keep a knife in a cubby hole by the main hatch but I can't think of a time it's ever been used while sailing. It only gets used for splicing ropes etc.



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[jfm]

I dont carry one, off the boat. There was a disturbing article in the Evening Standard about 3 weeks ago, written by a normal looking/sounding office worker 40yr old guy who was stopped in his car on one of these random roadside checks. The police noticed a penknife in his briefcase, apparently with a locking blade or something. I dont remeber the exact facts, but it all read very innocent

Anyway he was carted off to the police station, finger printed, photographed, DNAed, ridiculed by some snotty cops who jeered at him and said he faced few years in jail etc, belt and shoelaces removed and all that, spent night in police cell, etc.

All pretty horrible. It was written in the first person, much more harrowing than my description in this post. The risk as I see it is you get caught by a bad copper. There are zillions of decent coppers who would handle things well, but there is a group of not so nice ones who get off on the authority thing and can make the accused's life a misery, even if only for 24/48hours. I dont need to carry a knife badly enough to give one of those coppers an excuse.