[samatman]

It seems plausible to me that the crime we want to deter (shoving a sharpened piece of steel into someone) isn't easily or effectively prevented by adding carrying such a piece of steel to the list of crimes.

They're in every kitchen, how are we to prevent them from being carried out of the nearest one? Ask yourself!

The list of good reasons to carry a pocketknife which are aren't shanking someone is unenumerable and lengthy. It's an absurdity and I despair when I have to see Brits pretend to the logic of it out of some misplaced solidarity. Kudos for the NHS but the knife loisense fills me with pity for what a once mighty nation has become.

[thomasguide]

The target of these laws is not kitchen knives. Pocketknives (manual blade, less than 3") of most kinds are legal.[1, see exceptions] Bans of this kind are fairly common (for instance, in California, there is a ban on concealed carry of fixed-blade knives; in Los Angeles, the ban extends to openly carrying a "knife or dagger" defined as "any knife having a blade of three inches or more in length".[2] These laws strike me as very reasonable.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives [2]https://www.losangelescriminallawyers.com/los-angeles-knife-...