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My Mate and His Weapons (Machete, Knives, BB Gun etc...) The Law & Other Stuff

My mate, who I've known for a long time, has got a machete which is about 20" long, a dagger, 2-3 lock knives and a pen knife and around 4 BB Guns, one of which is metal. He also has a baseball bat and cricket bat, but thats minor.

I know for a fact, that he never takes any of this stuff out of his room. He says that he has only got all of it to protect his family. His area is quite bad, and theres always something going on. He is sensible and mature, he's not caught up with any bad stuff, getting good grades for A Levels, he is an all round good guy.

Now, I've been telling him to hand this stuff in to the Knife Amnesty thats going on, but he keeps arguing that he would never take any of the weapons out of the house and are purely there to protect him and his famil. I 100% believe him.

But is, this legal? Can he do this? Im sure there are laws against this. I dont know to convince him to hand the knives in. I think the BB guns are legal, and obviously the Baseball and Cricket bat are not illegal (he does play cricket but not basesbell, ever!)

I just dont want him to get into trouble. So if anyone could advise me on the law, and also what I could do to convince him to hand some of the stuff over with the amnesty.

Reply 1

BoBTFish

I believe there are certain laws against lock knives, and definately laws about the age you can BUY those sorts of things, but obviously he already has them so that isn't a problem as long as he didn't (or at least tells people he didn't) buy them himself whilst under that age limit (16? 18?). Anyway, he is absolutely fine while they're in his house, though even if someone did break in I wouldn't recommend using them as weapons, there's the whole "reasonable force" thing, so he would probably be better with the bats.

Reply 2

Note

11

Ok. What he is doing is totally legal. If they never leave his room, or even his premesis then there is no way any of that is illegal as whilst carrying any of them on the street or threatening somebody with them is illegal, he is not doing that. Also, if he decides to make use of any of them in the case of an intruder and defending himself whilst still obeying the "one hit down" part of the burglary and self defence laws then what he is doing is fine.

Seriously, if he is mature about it stop trying to get him to hand them in.

Reply 3

DenkMit

9

A question for all the law students (or anyone who knows) - what exactly am I allowed to do if someone breaks into my house? And do I need to declare that I know martial arts?

Reply 4

BoBTFish

Self Defense:reasonable force may be used to defend yourself in the UK, but that force may only be sufficient to repel the attack. There is a big difference between self-defence and retaliation, if you use excessive force or retaliate then that is classed as an assault and you may be arrested.

Assault: under British law it is an offence to lay your hand on to another person without their consent. However there are varying degrees of assault which are governed by the seriousness of the injury, the harm done and the circumstances.

Prohibited Weapons: it is prohibited to carry any article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and is longer than 3 inches long; including flick knives, lock knives, pen knives. This is a serious offence in the UK and our advice to you is not to carry anything that could be identified as a weapon.

Important points concerning the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 s.1:-

* This offence involves the carrying of a weapon in a public place. A public place is defined as anywhere where the public have or may be permitted to have access whether for payment or not.It is important to define what is meant by an offensive weapon. The Act defines what they are :-

(a) articles that were made for causing injury to a person and are offensive weapons in their own right (for example, a flick knife, a bayonet or a hand gun)
N.B. some sheath knives would be considered to be offensive weapons in their own right. It all depends on the design of the article in question and it is for the jury to decide whether it is an offensive weapon in each individual case. The courts have decided that certain other types of articles (e.g.. flick knives) ARE offensive weapons in their own right. Lock knives and pen knives are NOT offensive weapons in their own right.
(b) articles adapted for use for causing injury to a person (for example, a bottle that has been broken so the broken end may be used to cause injury)
(c) an article being carried by a person who intends to use it to cause injury (for example, a hammer)

Taken from http://web.ukonline.co.uk/scoutnotebook/scoutcraft/dangerousarticles.html and http://www.wmin.ac.uk/page-8796-smhp=594

Reply 5

Talon

18

All those weapons are 100% legal to keep on his premises. Remind him never to take anything big out in public. Small penknives are usually ok because they only have small blades and can have many uses. Anything bigger than 3 inches (I think that is the length) and you need a good reason eg ceremonial sword during a parade. Self defence is not a reason. I see no reason why he should hand any of his stuff in. He doesnt sound like the sort of guy thats gonna go on a killing spree with it. My sister has a big Honduran machete somewhere.

If someone enters your home you are permitted to use only as much force as is
necessary to restrain them until the police arrive.

Reply 6

Anonymous #1

OP

Ok, thanks for clearing that up.

I guess I'll leave him alone about it.

Reply 7

Chumbaniya

17

I'm not too sure about the "protecting his family" thing - surely when apprehending an intruder the baseball or cricket bat would be entirely sufficient. A blunt object with a long reach that is likely to knock out or incapacitate an intruder is far more suitable than a bladed weapon that could well cause serious injuries and blood loss, and maybe even death.

Reply 8

Lofty

13

Heheh, hope its not illegal, i have a few machetes hanging on the wall from various visits to SA and other countries :smile:

Reply 9

Talon

18

Chumbaniya

I'm not too sure about the "protecting his family" thing - surely when apprehending an intruder the baseball or cricket bat would be entirely sufficient. A blunt object with a long reach that is likely to knock out or incapacitate an intruder is far more suitable than a bladed weapon that could well cause serious injuries and blood loss, and maybe even death.

You arent allowed to hit an intruder with a baseball bat like that. You can threaten him with it but if you start to bloody him up you will probably get arrested for it. You might get away with it if he is armed and is actually trying to kill you.

Reply 10

Anonymous #1

OP

Chumbaniya

I'm not too sure about the "protecting his family" thing - surely when apprehending an intruder the baseball or cricket bat would be entirely sufficient. A blunt object with a long reach that is likely to knock out or incapacitate an intruder is far more suitable than a bladed weapon that could well cause serious injuries and blood loss, and maybe even death.

A machete is more likely to scare off an intruder than a Bat. Just a guess.........

Reply 11

Chumbaniya

17

I'm not saying that having a weapon means that it should be used, but if it ever did come to facing an armed intruder, a bat could incapacitate him much more safely than a knife could. Get into any sort of fight with a knife and there's every chance someone (quite possibly the knife wielder) could get a serious wound that would lead to huge amounts of bleeding.

Reply 12

Freezer

1

Perfectly legal to keep it, NOT legal to use it on someone,
I keep a machete taped to my bed board behind and its for last option protection.
Other than that if someone enters your house, you can't do alot, even if you ruff em up they can claim...

Reply 13

icedout

1

Lofty

Heheh, hope its not illegal, i have a few machetes hanging on the wall from various visits to SA and other countries :smile:

How did you get those past customs? :confused:

Reply 14

Lofty

13

icedout

How did you get those past customs? :confused:

In the luggage that goes in the cargo hold, afaik its only hand luggage you cant carry them in. At least i have never been stopped and its always been there when i got back!

Reply 15

Talon

18

Some countries export so many that they dont care if you take a few machetes home. They just have to go into hold luggauge. As for UK Customs just dont go up to them and tell them about your machete horde.

Reply 16

allmyshoes

1

only slightly related, but i'm interested to know...

did i hear somewhere once that if an intruder is in your bedroom, you can use a little bit more force against them? or am i wrong?

Reply 17

Note

11

^^Interesting point. And getting stuff past airport security isn't that hard. I've practically come back with a suitcase of blades before and not suspected, although I was slightly worried that I wasn't stopped or even questionned about the 10kg of white powder I was carrying on the plane.

Reply 18

FadeToBlackout

15

Basically, its fully legal to keep that kind of stuff in teh house but not to walk around teh street carrying it.

The general rule is anything with a blade less than 3" is OK in public, as long as it doesn't lock- and it does all depend on how teh police are feeling. I work in a theatre, and walking to Sainsbury's during a break i ahd my leatherman on my belt, as you do- along witha maglite and sundry other paraphernalia. I got spoken to, becasue apparently the police arn't too happy with you carrying things on your belt- pocket is best. I'd completely forgotten about it, though.

However, I wonder if teh OP has considered buying a large maglite, of the 4 or 5 D-Cell variety. Security guards arn't allowed to carry baton, but they do have great 2' long heavy metal torches for a reason... plus having a maglite is a lot more common and everyday than a machete!

Also for reference, there was a long-running debate on this about 6 months ago, over how much force to use over an intruder, debate over what could reasonably be used- maybe some kind person wants to search for it.

Reply 19

pendragon

13

I have a collection of historical looking Chinese swords, a Ghurkha knife, a sabre and an axe.

My Mate and His Weapons (Machete, Knives, BB Gun etc...) The Law & Other Stuff

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