Sword Ban in UK -SIGN PETITION

BDanceGirl

New member
Hello All,

if you are in the UK please leave a comment on this website to repeal the law which bans samurai swords and all curved blades over 50cm. If it is highly rated it may be looked at by the new government. This law is making it practically impossible for dancers in the UK to buy a sword.

Repeal the samurai sword ban — HMG - Your Freedom


Please pass onto anyone you know who might be interested

Cheers
 

lizaj

New member
Cross post from BHuz
I think you'll find people are buying and selling swords for dance without any problem here in the UK. AS a friend's policeman son said to her...we are not interested in ladies who want to balance swords on their heads but in those who wave them in the pursuit of crime.
Where you might have a problem is bringing them in from overseas and that has always existed since security issues raised ther heads. So swords and their like are suitably wrapped and in baggage holds.
I know people who have bought them without any problem in the last year and know English country dancers who use them all the time without the authorities being concerned in the least. There is no need to be concerned.. petitions have long gone to Downing Street and lo sword dancers and enacters carry on regardless.
 

BDanceGirl

New member
I agree that there is no problem carrying them around as long as they are concealed in public but as you rightly stated there is a problem bringing them into the country and that is because of this ban on curved blades. Do you know anyone who makes and sells swords here in the uk?
 

lizaj

New member
I agree that there is no problem carrying them around as long as they are concealed in public but as you rightly stated there is a problem bringing them into the country and that is because of this ban on curved blades. Do you know anyone who makes and sells swords here in the uk?

Not makes. As far as I know the traders who have always carried swords still do.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I agree that there is no problem carrying them around as long as they are concealed in public

An interesting variation of US law where concealed weapons are frowned upon unles accompanied by a carry permit- though I doubt one can get a carry permit of a concealed sword. ;)
 

~Diana~

AFK Moderator
An interesting variation of US law where concealed weapons are frowned upon unles accompanied by a carry permit- though I doubt one can get a carry permit of a concealed sword. ;)

now where would they hid that, in their pant leg? One would think that would make their walking very...umm...noticeable :lol:
 

gisela

Super Moderator
Here in Copenhagen we can go to jail if we carry (in public) any blade longer that 7 cm. Including hobby knives. After some unfortunate arrests of a man carrying a knife to and from work as he was a package person (opening and closing packages with lot of tape etc) and a fisherman that forgot that he had a knife in his car, they have allowed taking knives directly home from where you have used it. No detours. I guess it would be the same for BD swords.
 

khanjar

New member
I am fully aware the UK ban on curved swords was a result of a member of Parliament being attacked by for want of a better word ; nutter. Prior to that there were sword attacks on people, but it was just that the people injured were not important enough to consider legislation being made, for that, it took one of their own to be the victim, not an otherwise statistic.

The ban is pathetic, as why just curved swords, surely anything even a sharpened pencil can be a killing tool in the wrong hands, but the ban was ill conceived and definitely knee jerk.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
But you can for a gun.:think:

Yep, and it is quite a process, too.

According to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies, U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms or about 90 firearms per 100 people. My family owns our share of those firearms; most are used for hunting which is essentially our sole source of meat. I don't remember not knowing how to shoot.
 

lizaj

New member
Yep, and it is quite a process, too.

According to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies, U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms or about 90 firearms per 100 people. My family owns our share of those firearms; most are used for hunting which is essentially our sole source of meat. I don't remember not knowing how to shoot.

I beleive you have not got the highest gun owenership per capita: I believe that's Switzerland.
Despite being a veggie, I don't have a problem with hunting for food. It makes sense. We do have gun crime in the Uk but it's mercifully still low despite guns being pretty easy to obtain for a price. Even here I have no problem with farmers having guns to shoot pests such as foxes or with anyone who genuinely hunts for food. But we don't have the wide open spaces like you do in the USA and the vast majority of Brits are town-dwellers who should have no possible reason to arm themselves legitimately or otherwise.

As for swords, the only reason the legislation came into being was when an Member of Parliament was attacked by a constituent with a sword.

And by coincidence I am reading "The Devil's Acre" which is set in the 19th century London Colt factory. Great book.
 

BDanceGirl

New member
I am fully aware the UK ban on curved swords was a result of a member of Parliament being attacked by for want of a better word ; nutter. Prior to that there were sword attacks on people, but it was just that the people injured were not important enough to consider legislation being made, for that, it took one of their own to be the victim, not an otherwise statistic.

The ban is pathetic, as why just curved swords, surely anything even a sharpened pencil can be a killing tool in the wrong hands, but the ban was ill conceived and definitely knee jerk.

Fully agree this was a knee jerk reaction and has a bigger impact on other people such as collectors and marshal arts people who have to get a licence to have their swords and for Bdancers we don't fall under these categories, there is no licence for us. This law should be repealed as it doesn't prevent crime, there is no ban on straight edge swords.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Surprisingly enough, LizaJ, Switzerland is further down the list. The following is quoted from the Reuters site:

On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.

France, Canada, Sweden, Austria and Germany were next, each with about 30 guns per 100 people, while many poorer countries often associated with violence ranked much lower. Nigeria, for instance, had just one gun per 100 people.

U.S. most armed country with 90 guns per 100 people | Reuters for a full article and directions to the original study.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I suspect we're dealing with estimates in most cases. Any pollster knocking on a door in my neighborhood and inquiring about the number of guns within is likely to be met with the sound of a shotgun cocking and the words, "Who in the hell wants to know?" ;)

Found this from the home office re: firearms in Britain:

http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb0706.pdf
 
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Ariadne

Well-known member
My family owns our share of those firearms; most are used for hunting which is essentially our sole source of meat. I don't remember not knowing how to shoot.

I'm envious. I wish I had learned how to hunt. We could really use the meat right now.
 

lizaj

New member
I suspect we're dealing with estimates in most cases. Any pollster knocking on a door in my neighborhood and inquiring about the number of guns within is likely to be met with the sound of a shotgun cocking and the words, "Who in the hell wants to know?" ;)

Found this from the home office re: firearms in Britain:

http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs06/hosb0706.pdf

:lol::lol::lol:

I notice in the UK..it's high ownership of rifles. mind I live these official surveys..they're so flawed..where are the sawn-offs?;)
 
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