Aplogies if this is a long one.
Just thought it would be useful to have some clarification on the question of knife possession. I'd appreciate it, and I'm sure others would too, if only those who work in the law/legal professions answer, or those with a very good knowledge (as one or two seem to have). Also, I'd appreciate it if we could avoid any 'political correctness gone mad' responses - I'm not interested and don't want the point of asking these questions to be side-tracked by right-wing white noise. Don't want any 'not like that when my old man was a nipper' nor 'he's just an honest bloke'. The purpose of this post is to look at the law as it IS, not how it WAS, or how it SHOULD BE. We'll come to that later. Just trying to establish the current situation.
I'll try to frame my questions in a simple yes/no manner.
OK.
So, as I understand it, it is perfectly legal to have an UNLOCKING blade, under 3" (such as one may find on penknife/Swiss army knife type thing)?
It is illegal to have a locking blade OF ANY LENGTH or a fixed blade OF ANY LENGTH?
I am assuming that said blades are being carried in public, just in a pocket or somewhere, for no real purpose (i.e., I am not a tradesman, not going anywhere specific, just carrying the blade because they can, on occasion, be useful).
OK, let me paint a picture. Now, imagine I am going camping. But I am camping on public land, without permission, but away from where members of the public are likely to be (but public land nevertheless). I have with me a knife (will come to its description later). For whatever reason, a police officer comes along. He finds our camp and finds us with knives. Of course, the officer is not there to decide whether we are guilty or not, just whether we have broken the law or not. Let's assume we have LOCKING/FIXED blade knives with us. Since we are on public land, technically we have broken the law and so the officer arrests us, explaining it's up to the courts to decide whether we have reasonable excuse or not (for the purpose of this example, let's assume the officer is new and quite zealous and not using his discretion - a law is broken, he's decided to enforce it).
OK, it goes to court. Now, would it make any difference if the blade I was carrying was only 3", or much bigger - say, 6"? That is, a small blade is just as illegal as a big blade? Is this the same in the eyes of the law? And would it make any difference to the magistrate? (two quite different things)
Cheers for your help.
Just thought it would be useful to have some clarification on the question of knife possession. I'd appreciate it, and I'm sure others would too, if only those who work in the law/legal professions answer, or those with a very good knowledge (as one or two seem to have). Also, I'd appreciate it if we could avoid any 'political correctness gone mad' responses - I'm not interested and don't want the point of asking these questions to be side-tracked by right-wing white noise. Don't want any 'not like that when my old man was a nipper' nor 'he's just an honest bloke'. The purpose of this post is to look at the law as it IS, not how it WAS, or how it SHOULD BE. We'll come to that later. Just trying to establish the current situation.
I'll try to frame my questions in a simple yes/no manner.
OK.
So, as I understand it, it is perfectly legal to have an UNLOCKING blade, under 3" (such as one may find on penknife/Swiss army knife type thing)?
It is illegal to have a locking blade OF ANY LENGTH or a fixed blade OF ANY LENGTH?
I am assuming that said blades are being carried in public, just in a pocket or somewhere, for no real purpose (i.e., I am not a tradesman, not going anywhere specific, just carrying the blade because they can, on occasion, be useful).
OK, let me paint a picture. Now, imagine I am going camping. But I am camping on public land, without permission, but away from where members of the public are likely to be (but public land nevertheless). I have with me a knife (will come to its description later). For whatever reason, a police officer comes along. He finds our camp and finds us with knives. Of course, the officer is not there to decide whether we are guilty or not, just whether we have broken the law or not. Let's assume we have LOCKING/FIXED blade knives with us. Since we are on public land, technically we have broken the law and so the officer arrests us, explaining it's up to the courts to decide whether we have reasonable excuse or not (for the purpose of this example, let's assume the officer is new and quite zealous and not using his discretion - a law is broken, he's decided to enforce it).
OK, it goes to court. Now, would it make any difference if the blade I was carrying was only 3", or much bigger - say, 6"? That is, a small blade is just as illegal as a big blade? Is this the same in the eyes of the law? And would it make any difference to the magistrate? (two quite different things)
Cheers for your help.
