Not More Knife Law

[TurboGirl]

The security guard merely told me to take the knife off my belt and put it in my pack. I looked at his 357 magnum and did as he said immediately.

Sometimes being cooperative just comes naturally, doesn't it! Priceless, Oldtimer

Not been bushcrafting long but as a country lass, surrounded by farmers and doing offroading, I've always had one stowed surreptitiously somewhere as all the folk with me have but anytime we've been pulled over by the feds, really they just check you're about business which is legal- for instance you're from round those parts, not looking to nick stuff, being respectful.... if I was asked for a search, I'm pretty sure it'd be for a good reason but yup, when they went for the bag I probably would offer the info that the knife was buried and whereabouts so he didn't get urinated off at me when he risked a cut... its respect...

 

[Robbi]

Jon,

I don't want to sound rude, however any knife that is longer than 3" and/or has a fixed blade is illegal.

Ta

Woody...

what absolute rubbish ! it's people like you that breeds the paranoia ! if you must quote things like this on open forum, get it right for goodness sake !

anything NOT on the list below is LEGAL.


http://www.lmpenterprises.co.uk/list-of-banned-knives-28-c.asp

 

[gliderrider]

Woody110, I've just got to pick you up on a point
1)

any knife that is longer than 3" and/or has a fixed blade is illegal

It is an offence for any person, without lawful authority or good reason, to have with him in a public place, any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed except for a folding pocket-knife which has a cutting edge to its blade not exceeding 3 inches." [CJA 1988 section 139(1)]
What that means is, your knife can be any size you like(down to common sense) as long as you have a good reason, for example a shooter carrying a knife for skinning, an angler carrying a filleting knife, a woodsman carrying a mora for battoning etc.

Criminal Justice Act
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/33/contents

 

[geordienemisis]

I myself believe that if you think you will get stopped then you probably will, be normal and don't show off. I have lived in a quite rough part of Newcastle upon Tyne & I have never been stopped ever. Again its the way you look when walking whether it be in a city or the countryside. If you look shifty you will get the attention you do not want. As others have said tell the truth.

 

[comeonbabylightmyfire]

After a Kentish bimble I jumped on the train on Friday afternoon just to get into town to the National Gallery to review Delaroche's Execution of Lady Jane Grey. Job done, had a wander around the West End before settling down for a well deserved cappuccino when I felt something digging into my kidneys. Yep, you guessed it: my sheathed Mora Clipper, visible to the world...oooops :theyareon

 

[nuggets]

A thought the knife laws were brought in to stem the number of young people being stabbed by inner city `gangs` fighting each other and mugging innocent people !! Giving the police a bit more power when they stop and search !!


If you are off to the woods camping ,then you have a valid excuse - just don,t go to the woods in a `gang` you should be ok

 

[Retired Member southey]

You have to think of the whole picture, you probably wont get stopped, you will probably go about your life never meeting a bobby on bad terms, BUT, there has been(I'm trying to find the thread but no luck yet so perhaps we should treat this as a story for now) one, and only one that I've read of, incidence where the chap was camping perfectly legally on access land, in Scotland, the lady who owns the land(but didn't agree with the access laws) called the police to complain that there was a poacher on her land, so when the police turned up, found said chap in dark outdoorsy clothes, in a little camp of tarp and fire, with his essentila for bushcrafting axe, knife, the bobbys get interested, turn out his bag, SURVIVAL tin at the bottom with fishing set, snare wire, etc etc, lad is in shtuck, they hit the PNC, lad has prior records, he is taken into the police station, now this is only as I remember it, and my memory is a shady place at best BUT, yes it is about how you act, but remember your not the only person who may bring the police to speak to you, I am still trying to find that post,

 

[Bluebs4]

Everyone loved crocodile Dundee !

 

[Retired Member southey]

everyone loved crocodile dundee !

eh?......................

 

[Robbi]

he had a BIG knife mate

 

[Bluebs4]

To be honest the law is wrong , it's only gone half way a 3" non locker in the wrong hands ,a pen in the wrong hands would cause a problem ,I know we shouldn't have to but a licence to use in the correct environment would help ,any views ?

 

[Retired Member southey]

 

[Retired Member southey]

To be honest the law is wrong , it's only gone half way a 3" non locker in the wrong hands ,a pen in the wrong hands would cause a problem ,I know we shouldn't have to but a licence to use in the correct environment would help ,any views ?

Whats the point, it is already illegal to store a knife in someone or tell them your going to, how would a license help?

 

[The Ratcatcher]

Over about 40 years of having jobs and hobbies that involve carrying blades of various types, from Stanley knives to heavy cavalry sabres, I've only been stopped by the police three times.

On the first occasion, I'd been working on a sailing ship restoration and forgot to remove an eight inch riggers knife before going home after a very hard job. The officers who stopped me asked where I was going, where I had been, and what I had been doing, and then politely suggested that I should stow the knife in my sea-bag, on the grounds that "this area can be a bit rough and somebody might try and nick it off you."

The second time was on the way home from an exercise as a cadet forces instructor, in full combat kit with webbing and bergen. The officers questioning went on the lines of, "Is that a ghurka kukri?", "Is it a real one?", "Where did you get it from?","Can you get any more, 'cos I've always wanted one of them?"

The last time was travelling on a camping/bushcraft trip, last year, with a 18" parang strapped to the outside of my rucksack (it wouldn't fit inside.) A British Transport Police officer asked me what I was doing carrying it, and when I told him his reply was, "I didn't think you would be planning anything illegal. If you were, you'd be trying to hide it!"

On the other hand, earlier this year I walked into a supermarket near the harbour in a seaside town, to buy some bait for crab traps, wearing hip waders and with a Mora Clipper on my belt, as there was nowhere safe to leave it, and the only reaction wasthe security guard and two members of staff asking me whether I'd caught anything. On the way out, carrying a bag of Mackerel, a policeman who had been behind me in the queue asked the same question, and then gave me a few tips on the best places to set the crab traps.

The reaction to any of the above incidents may well have been different if they had taken place on a Saturday night in central Manchester but I wouldn't be carrying any of the blades concerned then.

Alan

 

[johnboy]

You have to think of the whole picture, you probably wont get stopped, you will probably go about your life never meeting a bobby on bad terms, BUT, there has been(I'm trying to find the thread but no luck yet so perhaps we should treat this as a story for now) one, and only one that I've read of, incidence where the chap was camping perfectly legally on access land, in Scotland, the lady who owns the land(but didn't agree with the access laws) called the police to complain that there was a poacher on her land, so when the police turned up, found said chap in dark outdoorsy clothes, in a little camp of tarp and fire, with his essentila for bushcrafting axe, knife, the bobbys get interested, turn out his bag, SURVIVAL tin at the bottom with fishing set, snare wire, etc etc, lad is in shtuck, they hit the PNC, lad has prior records, he is taken into the police station, now this is only as I remember it, and my memory is a shady place at best BUT, yes it is about how you act, but remember your not the only person who may bring the police to speak to you, I am still trying to find that post,

If you take the BCUK membership as base line number for those interested in bushcraft.

So circa 23k and then strip out those overseas like me so say 20k in the UK, then use that to say that of that 20k perhaps 30% are actually active in bushcraft in the UK it's a very rough cut figure but bear with me..

.So that's circa 6k of active folk...You have 1 incident in 6000... ( based on your story that incident was a bit odd)

We should be talking about getting stopped for speeding on the way to the woods as that is potentially more likely..

It would seem that the police are not stopping bushcraft folk that often and if they do then the reasoning the police get is sufficient for them to satisfy themselves that the person is complying with the intent of the law..

If folk were getting stopped searched and knifes axes and other sharps confiscated on a regular basis then the forums would be full of it and the threads would run to 10's of pages..

Instead what we have is a Lot of threads with this might happen and folk giving 'advice' as to their personal interpretation of UK knife law..

It seems to me from all of the tales that come out if you use a modicum of common sense then there more likely than not is no real issue....

Walk down the high street with a 18" parang on your belt on Saturday morning then you might have issues.

Transport your sharps discreetly to your venue and back again likely no issue...

Or is stop and search by the police a part of everyday life in th uk for most folk???

 

[mrcairney]

Or is stop and search by the police a part of everyday life in th uk for most folk???

I can't think of anyone I know, nor anyone I have ever met tell me they had been stopped/searched by the police. It's the kind of thing you bring up too, if you're a law abiding citizen. Personally I have never even talked to a policeman other than in the pub, off duty.

 

[gliderrider]

until a few years agoI spoke to the old bill almost weekly as part of my job(Security guard) and none of them asked what I had on my utility belt. F/A Kit, Maglight(bit visible that bit), Cheep multi tool, notebook & Marker sprey. No one batted an eyelid or said a dicky bird.

 

[Bluebs4]

I know your right most of us just blend into the background but honestly has anyone had the book chucked at them?

 

[Laurentius]

This is an old chestnut. In my youth I used to get stopped regularly by the police, because I was young, out late at night and therefore naturally sus. I have not been stopped or searched in many long years, I am sure I could smuggle a nuclear bomb in my briefcase and nobody would bat an eyelid because I look vaguely respectable.

It has nothing to do with the law it is to do with how you behave, give the "feds" lip and you will see what happens.

 

[santaman2000]

You have to think of the whole picture, you probably wont get stopped, you will probably go about your life never meeting a bobby on bad terms, BUT, there has been(I'm trying to find the thread but no luck yet so perhaps we should treat this as a story for now) one, and only one that I've read of, incidence where the chap was camping perfectly legally on access land, in Scotland, the lady who owns the land(but didn't agree with the access laws) called the police to complain that there was a poacher on her land, so when the police turned up, found said chap in dark outdoorsy clothes, in a little camp of tarp and fire, with his essentila for bushcrafting axe, knife, the bobbys get interested, turn out his bag, SURVIVAL tin at the bottom with fishing set, snare wire, etc etc, lad is in shtuck, they hit the PNC, lad has prior records, he is taken into the police station, now this is only as I remember it, and my memory is a shady place at best BUT, yes it is about how you act, but remember your not the only person who may bring the police to speak to you, I am still trying to find that post,

I vaguely remember that thread also, although not all the details of the individual bushcrafter. It would seem from your recollection though that there was more involved than simply carrying said knife. The individual had been accused by the land owner (rightly or wrongly) of poaching. When the police investigated he had the tools to do said poaching (the fishing kit) and he had a prior record making him a bit more suspect.

What I have read from links posted earlier in the thread, good reason includes: hunting, fishing, or camping or other such activities. Perhaps bushcrafting itself wasn't listed but as has come up in previous threads, "bushcrafting" is a rather vague term; certainly for most of us, camping IS a big part of it. Unfortunately for the individual in your example, one of his "reasonable excuses", fishing, was in itself part of what he was accused of (or might have been)