When Knives our outlawed, only outlaws will be chefs
LONG, pointed kitchen knives should be banned as part of a concerted effort to reduce the terrible injuries and deaths caused by stabbing attacks, doctors warned today.Accident and emergency medics claim the knives serve no useful purpose in the kitchen but are proving deadly on the streets of Britain, with the doctors claiming the knives are used in as many as half of all stabbings.
The doctors claimed they had consulted leading chefs who said the knives were not needed for cooking - a claim disputed by chefs contacted by The Scotsman.
Latest figures from the Scottish Executive show that in 2003, 55 of 108 homicide victims were stabbed by a sharp instrument - often a kitchen knife.
It is always interesting to see stories like this, and then here gun control advocates say with a straight face that there is no slipperly slope and the measure they are advocating will be the end of it.
Sadly for Liberals, people can be nasty and brutish. We can manage to kill each other with our bare hands if need be, and some of us will do that if nothing else is availible. Humanity is not perfectable and the ingenuity of man will always find another weapon if people are denied one.
Swift and certain justice for those who commit violence will do far more to reduce violence than trying to remove the ability to harm another ever will.
(via Fine? Why Fine?)
My thoughts:
http://www.lightbody.net/politics/archives/2005/05/gun_control_kni.html
I agree that people will always find ways to kill people. I do think that if an object has no alternative use other than killing people, we should limit its availability.
Re: deterrence — do you think that swift and harsh punishment will stop crimes of passion (”Honey, I’ve been seeing someone else…”)?