We can have non-one-handed locking blades up to 120mm and the islanders are pretty much "slipjointers". When I remove the thumstuds, I can make many liner lock/back lock knives "legal to carry" here. The UK laws seem pretty much dictated by the Murdoch tabloids.
In Spain 11cm max of lenght blade and not allowed automatic knives, double edges etc. And depend of the place too, it isn't the same the city than the car than the night city crowd, depend of the policeman mind.
UK knife laws haven't changed for some time. As Don said there was a lot of media rubbish (and still is) about knife crime. The then PM was on the TV saying anyone caught with a knife would go down for 5 years. General public thinks that means ANY knife. No laws changed they were just trying to show that the men in charge were doing something. Although I have to say, Don is from "up North" as I would say and I think they may have some of their own laws as regaurds to knives.
For some reason the UK gets singled out on forums for it's "harsh" knife laws. There are other places with harsher laws (Denmark), the same laws (Newyork/USA) which don't get a mention.
In the UK you can carry a locking knife if you have "good reason". It's up to you if you feel you can stand in court and expalin what your good reason was. That's if you get stopped, and if they decide to take it to court.
It's all relative. If you are a middle aged man out with family, you are having a picnic in the park, you open the food with a locking knife and a policeman walks by and stops for a chat about said knife, I'm sure nothing would happen.
If you are a teenager standing on a street corner late at night with a gang of other young men flicking your new flipper open - off to jail.
Laws are not the same around the world. For example you guys in the states are missing out on one of the best ever treats for adults and kids the knider egg. This is beacasue your govenment has banned them from sale. They don't trust you to remove the toy inside before eating and fear you may all choke. Get caught with a kinder egg in the states - $300 fine.
Anyway, nice knives lads. I'll try and take some photo of mine and post.
Hilarious - but true- about the Kinder Eggs.
I grew up in Europe, and they were a part of my youth. Mmmm....milk AND white chocolate, and a tiny toy with a dozen small parts that will put an eye out? YES PLEASE !!! I would bring back a case of them back to my friends Stateside, and return with a case of Everlasting Gobstoppers for the Euro crowd. "The colors...they're beautiful ! "
The nanny-state mentality wants to save the thick folk from themselves, and shield the company from the excessive litigation that would follow.
It's an interesting juxtaposition to the relatively lax gun laws. Sometimes Darwin just needs some room to work out. Who are we to deny people the right to exercise their own idiocy?
Ahhhhhhhhhh Kinder!. .......sorry I got carried away there.
The other US law (sorry not picking on you guys, but it's another odd one) is that you can't go and buy tritium with ease. I know we see loads of guys n the forum modding lights with tritium but as far as I know in the US it's a big no no to sell it to the general public? Over here in the UK we can walk into a fishing tackle shop and buy as much as we like. Again another over reaction from government - Radioactive Boy Scout
Laws are sometimes irritating and often not proportional to each other. I think I live in one of the countries with the most ridiculous laws, just because obsolete laws can't be simply deleted when considered obsolete or wrong, but they have to be modified by an additional paragraph.... to the degree where it says completely the opposite.... thanks Bismarck. A lawyer friend once told me that every German that ever did an annual tax declaration is a criminal by German law... just because there is no possible way to follow all the rules and laws by definition.
Concerning Kinder Eggs ;-) :
The tritium issue is fairly small, but annoying. Once again, nanny-state laws prevail.
One can, however buy as much tritium as one wants - as long as it is attached to a gunsite. :)
Nanny State !! GRRRRRRRRRRR !!!!
I have so much to say about the Nanny State and the accompanying lunacy, but this is not the place. So I'll say only this. Stupidity Should Be Painful ! Laws that protect us from our own stupidity are counterproductive to say the least.
From Batman Begins : " Why do we fall, sir ? So that we might learn to pick ourselves up.
Back on subject.. I've bought many of my budget knives here. http://www.wildbillwholesale.com/
Your cops must be way more relaxed than ours. German cops have the tendency to obey and enforce the law at any given time... very few of them will let you get away with a warning.
How did that old saying go?.....
"Heaven is where the police are British, the cooks are French, the engineers are German, the administrators are Swiss and the lovers are Italian. Hell is where the police are German, the cooks are British, the engineers are Italian, the administrators are French and the lovers are Swiss."
.... at least the part about Germans seems to be true in my experience.
But at least we can carry swords in public, with a valid reason of course. I saw a goth-like person once who carried a "Zweihänder" on his back at the local railroad station and waited for his train.... nothing happened to my surprise. 2 meter swords in a crowded place are OK obviously, but you better don't have a butterfly knife in your car, when it gets stopped and searched.
Looking for common sense in laws ANYWHERE is often an exercise in frustration.
If you want a laugh, have a look at some of the silly, archaic, and sometime nonsensical laws still on the books in certain places:
http://www.harford.edu/faculty/dvolkart/handouts/odd_state_laws.htm
OK you win ... I take it back that German laws are the most ridiculous ;-) ... the most complex is probably what I meant.
Couple of budget oriented knives. The Boker/Krein Pocket Bowie. Blade is a little under 3" and can be worn as a necker, using paracord the belt carry options are plentiful and it also slips well into a pocket.
Cold Steel Spike. Aside from self defense (for which there are better knives) I have not really found much use for this. Edge it too thick for utility cutting and the grip is far too thin in all directions to be comfortable. Bought it on impulse just to add another Tanto style from Cold Steel and they are generally under 20 bucks.
