British police faced backlash on Tuesday over the case of an 18-year-old student who was handcuffed as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer falsely alleged a racist attack.
Can’t tell you how it is in the UK, but here in Germany, you’re only allowed to carry knives with short blades (<= 12 cm, IIRC) in public, anything larger than that has to be stowed away safely, so that it cant be reached easily. A locked container would be ideal, but the precise definition is a bit wishy washy, and there are also designated areas, where even the small ones are not allowed (or fall under the same restrictions. I’m not really sure).
Furthermore, there are knives, which are just generally outlawed depending on their construction; like spring-loaded knives and butterfly knives, for example.
If there are at least similar regulations in the UK, the Sikh’s ceremonial daggers, could fall into a category that would usually be banned, but with an exemption for religious reasons.
Some of the rules here are a bit silly, imho, but the fact, that we don’t treat a small paring knife the same as an army combat knife at least makes sense to me.
Swiss army knives are also permitted in most places thanks to their lack of locking mechanism, iirc there’s a specific law in place about locking knives of any length, but I’m not going to trawl through pages of constabularyspeak to find out.
In Germany the law regarding foldable knives is summed up as such:
If it can be opened with one hand AND is lockable, it’s banned, regardless of length.
It can be lockable, or it can be opened with one hand, but not both of these features at the same time.
But that doesn’t lead to a general permission.
Other restrictions might apply as well, due to some other characteristics. There’s just a specific ban for lockable knives with a one-handed opening mechanism.
And since there are varying sizes and features of Swiss army knives, you’d have to judge them based on the specific model.
But again: this is specific to Germany. Even different EU countries have sometimes very different laws.
You probably haven’t, but the reasons why are actually still a bit more complicated.
Having a typical Swiss army knife on you usually isn’t a problem. But the afore mentioned designated areas are often found around train stations, especially in larger cities, and a few years ago the law designated vehicles and areas of public transport as such areas per se.
That’s one scenario, where you might end up getting in trouble completely unaware.
Again, there are exemptions, that should enable you to take your Swiss army knife on the train and travel with it, without getting in trouble. But the phrasing is pretty wishy washy still. One exemption, for example, allows carrying knives for “generally accepted purposes”, whatever that is.
In theory, you should be perfectly fine travelling with a small pocket knife, but no guarantee, that the individual law enforcement officer would accept your purpose of transport and travelling. So you better make sure, you look white and at least middle class enough…
And god forbid, you actually end up in a situation, where you’d have to use said knife in self-defense and hurt someone. You might end up having to defend your purpose of carrying a knife in the first place in court.
Can’t tell you how it is in the UK, but here in Germany, you’re only allowed to carry knives with short blades (<= 12 cm, IIRC) in public, anything larger than that has to be stowed away safely, so that it cant be reached easily. A locked container would be ideal, but the precise definition is a bit wishy washy, and there are also designated areas, where even the small ones are not allowed (or fall under the same restrictions. I’m not really sure).
Furthermore, there are knives, which are just generally outlawed depending on their construction; like spring-loaded knives and butterfly knives, for example.
If there are at least similar regulations in the UK, the Sikh’s ceremonial daggers, could fall into a category that would usually be banned, but with an exemption for religious reasons.
Some of the rules here are a bit silly, imho, but the fact, that we don’t treat a small paring knife the same as an army combat knife at least makes sense to me.
That makes sense. Good to know I probably haven’t been doing anything illegal by carrying a swiss army knife in the S Bahn
Swiss army knives are also permitted in most places thanks to their lack of locking mechanism, iirc there’s a specific law in place about locking knives of any length, but I’m not going to trawl through pages of constabularyspeak to find out.
In Germany the law regarding foldable knives is summed up as such: If it can be opened with one hand AND is lockable, it’s banned, regardless of length.
It can be lockable, or it can be opened with one hand, but not both of these features at the same time.
But that doesn’t lead to a general permission. Other restrictions might apply as well, due to some other characteristics. There’s just a specific ban for lockable knives with a one-handed opening mechanism. And since there are varying sizes and features of Swiss army knives, you’d have to judge them based on the specific model.
But again: this is specific to Germany. Even different EU countries have sometimes very different laws.
You probably haven’t, but the reasons why are actually still a bit more complicated.
Having a typical Swiss army knife on you usually isn’t a problem. But the afore mentioned designated areas are often found around train stations, especially in larger cities, and a few years ago the law designated vehicles and areas of public transport as such areas per se.
That’s one scenario, where you might end up getting in trouble completely unaware.
Again, there are exemptions, that should enable you to take your Swiss army knife on the train and travel with it, without getting in trouble. But the phrasing is pretty wishy washy still. One exemption, for example, allows carrying knives for “generally accepted purposes”, whatever that is.
In theory, you should be perfectly fine travelling with a small pocket knife, but no guarantee, that the individual law enforcement officer would accept your purpose of transport and travelling. So you better make sure, you look white and at least middle class enough…
And god forbid, you actually end up in a situation, where you’d have to use said knife in self-defense and hurt someone. You might end up having to defend your purpose of carrying a knife in the first place in court.