The British government announced on Thursday the upcoming ban on the sale and possession of Katana -like sabers, to fight against the scourge of stabbing violence.
From August 1, any person arrested in possession of such a weapon may be sentenced to a sentence of up to two years’ imprisonment within the framework of a new law, details the Ministry of the Interior in a press release.
To make money
Before that, people with a saber of this type, measuring between 35 and 60 cm long and corresponding to a precise description, will have to part with it within the framework of a collection organized by the authorities, and will receive financial compensation (if the weapon was bought before this Thursday, March 27).
Wearing a weapon in public space is already punishable by a sentence of up to four years’ imprisonment. “Breek crimes destroy the lives of young people because too many teenagers fall into violence and because it is too easy for them to have access to dangerous weapons,” said Interior Minister Yvette Cooper, quoted in a statement.
In recent years, the United Kingdom has seen the number of incidents involving white weapons increase among young people, so much so that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has spoken of a “national crisis”.
50,000 cases in one year
Between April 2023 and March 2024, 50,510 crimes and crimes involving a stabbing weapon were identified in England and Wales, up 4.4% over a year, and almost 90% in ten years.
This measure targeting these said “ninja” swords in the United Kingdom follows the ban, in September 2024, of “zombie” type knives and machetes, whose blade measures more than 20 centimeters and whose cutting edge is serrated, often used by gangs. It will be integrated into a bill currently examined in Parliament in order to combat crime.
A component of this text bears the name of Ronan Kanda, 16, killed three years ago in Wolverhampton three years ago by a comrade of the same age who had confused him with another. He had used a saber of about fifty centimeters which he had ordered on the internet using his mother’s identity document, and had dozens of other knives.
The law will also force the websites to be reported to the police any purchase of suspicious or large quantity knives. The prison sentence for sale of weapons at under 18 will be brought from six months to two years
