News In Focus
14 August 2006
Executive announces sword-buying ban
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson has announced a ban on the general sale of swords and a licensing regime for sales of non-domestic knives and other bladed items.
Legislation to be introduced to the Scottish Parliament later this year will make it an offence for anyone to sell swords in Scotland other than for a legitimate purpose specifically exempted in law, including religious, cultural and sporting purposes.
Retailers wishing to sell swords under the exemptions will need to be licensed and comply with mandatory licence conditions, as will any business dealing in non-domestic knives and other bladed implements such as machetes.
To support the new regime, powers of entry and seizure will be extended to local authority trading standards officers where they have reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence has been committed.
The minister said that it was simply far too easy at present for these weapons to be bought and sold. "Anyone wishing to sell swords under the exemptions will have to take reasonable steps to assure themselves that the intended use is an approved one. And it will also be an offence for a purchaser to give false information."
Last year in the Strathclyde area alone, there were 1,300 knife attacks. Of these attacks, 1,100 were in a public place and involved non-domestic knifes.
The Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act which comes into force in September will double the maximum penalty for carrying a knife in public and riase the minimum age for buying non-domestic knives from 16 to 18.