Banning samurai swords

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

LONDON (Reuters) - The government said Wednesday it would ban the sale of samurai swords because the weapons had been used in a number of serious, high-profile attacks.

The Home Office said the swords would be added to the Offensive Weapons Order from April next year, meaning they could not be imported, sold or hired.

However collectors of genuine Japanese swords and those used by martial arts enthusiasts would be exempt from the ban.

"In the wrong hands, samurai swords are dangerous weapons," Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said.

"We recognize it is the cheap, easily available samurai swords which are being used in crime and not the genuine more expensive samurai swords which are of interest to collectors and martial arts enthusiasts."

The Association of Chief Police Officers said the swords were not a common weapon but they had been used in a number of significant incidents.

In 2000, Robert Ashman murdered a Liberal Democrat councilor at the offices of Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones, who was also seriously hurt in the attack.

A year earlier, Eden Strang seriously wounded 11 people when he went on the rampage with a samurai sword at a Roman Catholic Church near his home in Thornton Heath, south London.

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[Amby 490]

I'm thinking last year when I was in England someone was cut with one and killed. Maybe a carer in Newcastle? Crazy brits!

[SteveLaura 0]

Good idea.

[mawilson 2,133]

Good idea.

Yay, I love freedom!!! Kitchen knife permits next!

[SteveLaura 0]

Good idea.

Yay, I love freedom!!! Kitchen knife permits next!

Ho ho.

[YuAndDan 153]

Good idea.

Yay, I love freedom!!! Kitchen knife permits next!

Yep and hammers, and any other thing that can be used to "assault" someone.

Yes lets ban something because it is used by a few to commit a few crimes.

[eric&gen 0]

My samurai sword go banned too long and sharp lol.

[SteveLaura 0]

Good idea.

Yay, I love freedom!!! Kitchen knife permits next!

Yep and hammers, and any other thing that can be used to "assault" someone.

Yes lets ban something because it is used by a few to commit a few crimes.

Yes, because there's lots of reasons to have an imitation samurai sword, whereas hammers, kitchen knives, etc are just useless.

[Kazan' Tiger 1]

Several years ago, my son was stabbed with a pencil purposely by a classmate. The graphite piece finally popped out the other side of his thumb after six months. I think we need a ten day waiting period before buying office supplies that could harm someone. Especially paper! Those cuts are nasty!

Geez! What is so hard to understand. If a person wants to do harm, they will find a weapon, whether it be gun, samorai sword or tree branch. Outlawing all these "potential" killing devices do not do diddly. Almost anything can kill in the right hands.

Good idea.

Yay, I love freedom!!! Kitchen knife permits next!

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

A former classmate of mine from my Glasgow school days was actually involved in one of the high-profile samurai sword attacks in a church. Nuts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/774618.stm

[SteveLaura 0]

A former classmate of mine from my Glasgow school days was actually involved in one of the high-profile samurai sword attacks in a church. Nuts.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/774618.stm

Strangely, I can't find in the report the part where he claimed he bought the sword to sharpen his pencils...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

What they need to do is castrate all young boys at birth, that alone will cause a remarkable drop in crime rates.

As for continuation of the species, that's what immigration is for. Just castrate all adult men who enter.

[eric&gen 0]

That hurts lol

[yassmine2878 1]

Yet another case of reading too fast. When I first saw the post title, I thought it said "Banning Samurai Words". And then I thought, "which words do only Samurais use? Can we not say 'HIIIIIII-YAH!' anymore?". I think Ive just won the Kelly Pickler award.

Edited December 17, 2007 by yassmine2878

[almaty 19]

i wish i had a samurai sword....