Knives seized at Belfast international Airport! Are knives illegal in NI???

[FerFAL]

I couldnt believe it but it seems that its illegal now to enter knives and axes to NI.

John Spence, from Border Force at Belfast International Airport, said: "It is illegal to bring knives and weapons into Northern Ireland from overseas - just because you can legally buy an item while abroad does not mean you can legally bring it into the UK.

Can anyone help explain this article in today's BBC?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18077965
I have my parents traveling and bringing me some of my knives, including some expensive pieces (no balisongs, gravity knives, all legal stuff, just some small and bigger knives).
Anyone cares to put some light into this? I just dont understand why its illegal now to bring knives in your dispached luggage.
FerFAL

[two_zero]

I am not aware of NI knife laws, but media does tend not to report very accurately. It's probably something more to it, like them being balis or something.

Had a look at wikipedia or duckduckgo/google?

[Danzo]

I don't know either. Northern Ireland has always had some specific legislation because of its peculiar circumstances over the last forty years. The devolved government there may have enacted legislation which we have missed here on BB.

Danzo

[Essexman]

From that BBC report (bold by me)

" if you are found breaking the law by carrying banned knives and offensive weapons then you will be stopped, the weapons will be seized and you may face prosecution."

So one could take it that knives seized were of a banned type and/or offensive weapons.

Therefore you knives should be OK.

[parbajtor]

The media do like to put a specific slant on quoting legislation to make it seem as if "all knives are banned". Not just the media, either. The directgov website also had some pretty misleading sentences in it regarding the carrying of knives. I see that the website has been revised recently (probably due to complaints).
John Spence from Border Force (if accurately quoted) is just plain wrong in his opening sentence but attempts to qualify it by then talking about banned knives and offensive weapons.
It's kind of like saying "curved swords over 50cm are banned"...................but if you read through the list of exemptions etc. and read the actual legislation very carefully, you'll see that actually almost no curved swords are banned, even those stainless steel wall hangers if not marketed as "samurai swords" could (theoretically) be argued as "traditionally made, stainless steel sword shaped ornaments". Also don't forget that the legislation only actually becomes "law" once the first test case has been heard and adjudicated. It's part of the reason why there have been so few Corporate Manslaughter Cases brought, even though the legislation is 4 years old.

[bigreddog]

Look like some balisongs in the picture on the BBC site - I suspect if you have a mixed bag of blades and some are illegal, they'll take the lot

[Danzo]

Look like some balisongs in the picture on the BBC site - I suspect if you have a mixed bag of blades and some are illegal, they'll take the lot

I've always thought that there's a police "horrorshow bag" of knives which police services book for when they need to stage an anti-knife publicity conference and photo-shoot. It's always exactly the same knives!





Danzo

[earthman]

In the past I had been told that ANY sort of locking knife was illegal/banned in NI. I have no idea if this is true, the guy does work for the Police though, we were talking about motorcycle/carrying a Leatherman Wave at the time.

[steogede]

I've always thought that there's a police "horrorshow bag" of knives which police services book for when they need to stage an anti-knife publicity conference and photo-shoot. It's always exactly the same knives!

I like the fact that there always seems a nice selection of (almost certainly blunt) fantasy knives included. The bat'leth in this photo takes the cake - I reckon more people are injured by phasers and transporter malfunctions and holo-deck incidents than are attacked by someone wielding a bat'leth.

[rapidboy]

In the past I had been told that ANY sort of locking knife was illegal/banned in NI. I have no idea if this is true, the guy does work for the Police though, we were talking about motorcycle/carrying a Leatherman Wave at the time.

He's wrong, same knife law in NI as rest of UK.

If your lifted for fighting, pished, with a knife outside a pub on a friday night you can expect a problem but going to work with a locking folder or heading out shooting or fishing with a suitable fixed blade has never been a problem.
I regularly carry locking folders / fixed blades and have carried both into police stations in NI and never a word said.

NW200 last weekend and im sure half the bikers had leathermans or some sort of multitool with them, (while having a few pints and watching the bike racing), i have always found the cops here to be fairly sensible about knives.

[Martyn]

The article also says...

Since the beginning of May, officers at the airport have seized more than 150,000 cigarettes and 64 kgs of hand rolling tobacco from travellers.

Does this mean cigarettes and hand rolling tobacco are now banned in NI? No, of course not. Whether something is siezed by UKBA depends as much on the circumstances under which it is imported.

The article also says...

On another flight two replica pistols found in a passenger's bag were seized.

...yet replicas ere legal in NI, as are licensed "real steel" handguns.

Ignore it, it's just sensationalist, shoddy and inaccurate reporting of half-truths.

[Martyn]

I like the fact that there always seems a nice selection of (almost certainly blunt) fantasy knives included. The bat'leth in this photo takes the cake - I reckon more people are injured by phasers and transporter malfunctions and holo-deck incidents than are attacked by someone wielding a bat'leth.

I agree, phasers should be banned. Think of the children!

[BladeScout]

Eventually everything that is any fun will be outlawed. Because of the perceived threat of a bat'leth. Sad.

[BlackthornStick]

I like the fact that there always seems a nice selection of (almost certainly blunt) fantasy knives included. The bat'leth in this photo takes the cake - I reckon more people are injured by phasers and transporter malfunctions and holo-deck incidents than are attacked by someone wielding a bat'leth.

Reminds me of this shameless bit of hysteria a few years back - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...de-seized.html

Local Insp Mac McGarry wielded the sword, which he said had been sharpened to kill.

He said: “It is a particularly nasty weapon which could easily take someone’s head off.”

Really? I severely doubt that mild steel lump of crap could cut through butter, let alone take someones head off. It certainly doesnt look like the most wieldy weapon in the world, but then again Hollywood is in the business of making movies, not designing swords suitable for battle.

And an Inspector really ought to know better than to pander to tabloid sensationalism like that.

[jdm61]

An Inspector knows that it makes for better press if he makes it sound like he saved the town from Miyamoto Musashi on a PCP bender wielding a pair of Masamune tachis as opposed to some doofus with a nominally sharpened toy.

Reminds me of this shameless bit of hysteria a few years back - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...de-seized.html



Really? I severely doubt that mild steel lump of crap could cut through butter, let alone take someones head off. It certainly doesnt look like the most wieldy weapon in the world, but then again Hollywood is in the business of making movies, not designing swords suitable for battle.

And an Inspector really ought to know better than to pander to tabloid sensationalism like that.