London Mayor Sadiq Khan calls for knife ban as crime rises, ‘never a reason to carry a knife’
London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a tough crackdown on knives Sunday as the city reels from a spike in stabbings that have led its number of homicides to top New York City’s for two straight months.
He tweeted: “No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law. https://t.co/XILUvIFLOW — Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) April 8, 2018
London has seen more than 50 homicides already in 2018.
Most of the city’s murder victims have been stabbed to death, as guns are tightly restricted in Britain and shootings are relatively rare.
If the bloody trend continues, London will far surpass the 130 murders in 2017 and reach a number not seen since the early 2000s.
According to The Guardian, a leaked report on policing and crime from the U.K.’s Home Office says that it was unlikely that “lack of deterrence” was the catalyst for the rise in serious violence. “Forces with the biggest falls in police numbers are not seeing the biggest rises in serious violence.”
[Home Secretary Amber] Rudd said in a Sunday Telegraph article: “While I understand that police are facing emerging threats and new pressures—leading us to increase total investment in policing—the evidence does not bear out claims that resources are to blame for rising violence.
“In the early [90s], when serious violent crimes were at their highest, police numbers were rising. In 2008, when knife crime was far greater than the lows we saw in 2013-14, police numbers were close to the highest we’d seen in decades.”
Conservatives rightly pointed out that the new policy gives life to the age-old slippery slope scenario. Now that Britain has largely disarmed their populace of firearms, conservatives reason that knives are the next target. But even knives are not the problem, according to the Regents Park Police, who recently boasted on their Twitter account of confiscating a pair of scissors, some pliers and a screwdriver during a so-called “weapons sweep.”
These items were found during a #weaponSweep near #MackworthHouse #AugustasSt during #OpSceptre . Safely disposed and taken off the streets pic.twitter.com/53HdeqMKu1
— Regents Park Police (@MPSRegentsPark) March 16, 2018
