Royal Mail Restricted Items-Tomahawk

[big_swede]

I always scream on the inside when somebody uses "security" as a reason to limit someones freedom and integrity.

(Statistically, how many crimes have been committed using forests axes in the past 10 years, and how many of the suspects travelled by train? With their criminal weapons in plain sight?)

 

[Wook]

Royal Mail have been getting stricter about this sort of stuff for no good reason*. There's a world of little Hitlers behind post office counters who just lap up the extra authority it gives them. You need to be careful what you say to them since often they're just dying for a reason to be "the man" and come down on you like a tonne of bricks. When shipping off my SAKs for repair, I carefully avoided using the word "knife" when answering their questions and instead described them as "tools" (which of course, they are). Beyond ascertaining that the item is not on the prohibited list, it's none of their business what you're shipping.

* - After all, if your package contains illegal firearms, explosives, illegal drugs or the head of a former prime minister, you're hardly going to tell some jobsworth behind the PO counter about it, are you?

 

[rancid badger]

I don't use Royal Mail anymore and would advise others to "vote with their wallets" and stop using them.

 

[boatman]

i have a fireman's axe which has a tomahawk shaped blade with a spike on the other side. Not a weapon.

 

[santaman2000]

i have a fireman's axe which has a tomahawk shaped blade with a spike on the other side. Not a weapon.

True. But as it was designed for forced entry into buildings with jammed entryways, could it be classed as a burglary tool?

 

[Shinken]

People have been beated to death with paving slabs, quick lets ban all paving slabs. Grass for the bathroom floor, much safer.

 

[British Red]

People have been beated to death with paving slabs, quick lets ban all paving slabs. Grass for the bathroom floor, much safer.

Upi would be surprised how many wooly minded thinkers apply exactly that logic Ash - even on this forum (except to the tools they want to keep of course)

 

[presterjohn]

I think I must be in the minority on this one as I always grew up thinking a Tomahawk was one of the main weapons used by native Americans. I think of them as being distinctly different from axes even if they can be used for similar jobs. To my mind as an item it falls on the wrong side of the fence and belongs with swords and maces etc.

 

[santaman2000]

I think I must be in the minority on this one as I always grew up thinking a Tomahawk was one of the main weapons used by native Americans......

Thanks to Hollywood, a lot of people share that view. The reality is that it was a trade item introduced by European settlers.

 

[British Red]

Thanks to Hollywood, a lot of people share that view. The reality is that it was a trade item introduced by European settlers.

Indeed - and they were known as "trade axes".

 

[demographic]

Knives/axe's are "woodworking tools". OK?

 

[boatman]

I think I must be in the minority on this one as I always grew up thinking a Tomahawk was one of the main weapons used by native Americans. I think of them as being distinctly different from axes even if they can be used for similar jobs. To my mind as an item it falls on the wrong side of the fence and belongs with swords and maces etc.

Why are swords and maces the "wrong" side of the fence? I have several swords for replicating many eras as well as the foils I use for the sport of fencing. No blood on any of them.

 

[leon-1]

There has been a strong association with tools and weaponry throughout the years. Change of use inspired development, and axes become battle axes, Hammers become War Hammers, rice flail become Nunchaku, Kama (japanese sickle) became kusarigama and there are many more examples of this are out there.

Objects become weapons when they are used as such, otherwise they are inanimate objects, they have no will of their own or ability to move without outside intervention.

What I find annoying is that for an axe in my possession to be classed as an offensive weapon someone has to believe that I have intent to use it as such, either that or they don't understand the nature of the object.

Swords, bows and firearms have a place within the sporting society, axes and knives have a place as tools, explosives have a place within industry and entertainment (fireworks), the nature of the object only changes to being a weapon when the person using it has intent to use it as such.

Obviously the transportation of some objects (chemicals and the like) can be dangerous / hazardous and as such they should be listed as items that require specialist carriage, but properly packaged cutting tools shouldn't be on the list.

With the list that a lot of the carriers are using (it's not just Royal Mail) technically you'd have to remove all of the knives from a canteen of cutlery, chefs knives would be a prohibited item and there would be a host of other items that are everyday things that couldn't be shipped including batteries, which in today's society would spell disaster for anyone sending for a new phone, tablet or laptop.

Common sense appears to have been binned.