Soft on knife crime soft on carriers of knives
Hang on a minute. What was all this fuss about knife crime? I thought we were supposed to be cracking down on this?
An 18-year-old man with a flick knife stabbed an unarmed student to death during a fight has been found guilty of manslaughter. Sorry, but this is murder. I suspect he will get about 2-3 years if that...
Celebrating the knife.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
Given, as far as I am aware, that the current maximum sentence for carrying a knife (yes, just carrying) is two years, and given that a flick knife is in itself illegal just by its existence and can give rise to no claim of possession for legitimate purposes, this seems to fly in the face of all the recent hullaballoo (knee jerk though it may have been). Surely the argument "I didn't mean to kill, the stabbing was just instinctive self defence" is just the type of circumstance that the government is targeting in trying to eradicate the casual carrying of knives. Those who deliberately pack a blade in order to commit a planned killing will and always have done so anyway. Besides, death is obviously a foreseeable outcome when stabbing someone with a flick knife.
ReplyDeleteManslaughter, Ha bloody ha. Great message to send out. People legitimately defending themselves against attackers in their own homes have fared worse. I imagine he would also have got "manslaughter" had he killed the guy with his fists, so is the possession and use of a banned weapon now ok???