Law Zone : The Law relating to Knives

1. The law says that a young person under the age of 16 (soon to be raised to under 18 years of age) cannot be sold any knife, knife blade or razor blade. Nor can they be sold an axe, any other article which is sharply pointed and has a blade.

2. There are SOME knives which are not covered by this law. Knives where the blade folds into the handle, such as a Swiss Army Knife, are not illegal, as long as the blade is shorter than 3 inches/7.62 cms.

3. Certain knives are illegal to everyone, regardless of their age:

• Flick knives, Butterfly knives (where the handle splits in two and covers the blade, like wings).
• Disguised knives (where the blade is hidden inside something like a belt buckle or mobile phone).

4. It is an arrestable offence to carry an offensive weapon in a public place. This includes any blades or sharply pointed articles.

5. A person found guilty of carrying a knife or any offensive weapon in public can, on conviction be sent to prison for up to two years and/or receive a £5000 fine for a first offence. The knife need not be used or even seen by anyone other than the police officer who found it.

Medical Facts about Knives

1. A deep wound to the torso could damage any of the internal organs i.e heart, lungs, liver, kidney, intestine, spleen.

2. A penetrating wound 1 cm deep in the chest will enter the ribcage.

3. A penetrating wound 2.5cm deep in the chest will enter the heart.

4. A pathologist can dissect your entire body with a scalpel, which has a blade only 2.5 cm long.

5. Any stab wound will result in bleeding. 3-5mm of depth could be deep enough to sever major blood vessels.

6. There are several major arteries running throughout the body, if these are severed, blood will leave the body at a considerable rate and since arteries carry blood away from the heart, this blood is under pressure. Without quick medical attention, a few minutes could be the difference between life and death.