Operation Sceptre is the name of a British police initiate to tackle knife crime. This is how it is described from the official website of the Metropolitan Police.
We launched Operation Sceptre in July 2015 with the aim of reducing knife crime and the number families affected by knife crime across the whole of London. The launch was designed to coincide with new legislation that means that those convicted of carrying a knife for the second time will face a mandatory custodial sentence. Operation Sceptre seeks to target not only those who carry and use knives, but also the supply, access and importation of weapons.
There is a Twitter hashtag for this, #OpSceptre. Various police units post their finds and seizures on Twitter as a warning to people. The problem is that it makes the UK look like a laughing stock.
Was that really a stashed weapon or did somebody lose that?
The kitchen knife may be dubious but I’m pretty sure the pruning shears were dropped by whoever has the job of maintaining that planter.
For fuck’s sake, a Leatherman? Really?
This is where this whole thing starts to die.
I agree with the Left, the purpose of guns is to kill. However, I don’t have an inherent problem with that. I have a problem with who is killing and why. I believe that killing in self defense is legitimate and so I believe that people should be allowed to have the tools for effective self defense. Attack me and I will try and kill you right back.
In this way, knives are not like guns. There are many uses for a knife beyond stabbing people. As someone who carries a Swiss Army Knife… everywhere… I wouldn’t want to use it as a weapon. There are just so many better options for improvised weapons than my Deluxe Tinker.
So when the Mayor of London said “there is never a reason to carry a knife,” any rational person would say “bullshit.”
This is the same attitude had by NY prosecutor Cy Vance and Governor Andrew Cuomo in for punishing working class people in New York for carrying knives used for work, to the point where they go after retailers like Home Depot.
Or in the case of the UK, housewares retailers.
It is the assumption that the ONLY reason to have a knife is to use it as a weapon, carrying a knife ALWAYS has nefarious intent, and only bad people carry knifes of any kind.
I get that carrying an 8 inch novelty “Rambo” knife is probably criminal, but when that is treated the same as multi-tool, society has reached the level of “dystopian police state.”
The more the UK police focus on “carrying knives” and not why people are stabbing each other, the more laughably ridiculous this becomes.
Forget the wayward youths stabbing each other over drugs or hooliganism, we need to be sure to disarm every mechanic and handyman in Kingdom.
Part of this war on knives in the UK is charities and other groups who have placed “knife bins” in locations to get people to give up their knives.
Words 4 Weapons is one of these charities.
Only Cowards Carry is another. This second one intrigues me.
Pictures of their bins have been posted here before.
I am curious, does this work?
I’m not a psychologist but it seems like this is supposed to shame people who carry knives as weapons into giving up their knives. That seems to be as bad as the “real men use fists” crap we’ve seen from the anti gun crowd.
Maybe centuries of being Subjects not Citizens makes Britons act differently, but if someone said to me “you are a coward because you have a SAK on you, give it up” it’s only going to piss me off, not make be throw my knife away.
Really, to me this is nothing but a convenient evidence disposal box.
If freedom is to prevail in the US or even make an attempt at comeback in the UK, the first thing that needs to reassert itself is the presumption of innocence.
Simply carrying a knife, or a gun, or possession of a scary black rifle and extra big metal box with a spring is not evidence of malicious intent.
Anybody that can’t differentiate between a guy with a tool and a guy with criminal intent doesn’t belong anywhere near authority.
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