[media]http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071213/od_nm/swords_dc_2[/media] Look out Mall Ninjas! Dec 13, 10:30 AM ET <!-- end storyhdr --> LONDON (Reuters) - The government said Wednesday it would ban the sale of samurai swords because the weapons had been used in a number of serious, high-profile attacks. <script language="javascript">if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['HYaQD9G_fzc-']='&U=13b7pftbq%2fN%3dHYaQD9G_fzc-%2fC%3d619213.11618580.12104953.2311907%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4940782'; </script><noscript></noscript> The Home Office said the swords would be added to the Offensive Weapons Order from April next year, meaning they could not be imported, sold or hired. However collectors of genuine Japanese swords and those used by martial arts enthusiasts would be exempt from the ban. "In the wrong hands, samurai swords are dangerous weapons," Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said. "We recognize it is the cheap, easily available samurai swords which are being used in crime and not the genuine more expensive samurai swords which are of interest to collectors and martial arts enthusiasts." The Association of Chief Police Officers said the swords were not a common weapon but they had been used in a number of significant incidents. In 2000, Robert Ashman murdered a Liberal Democrat councilor at the offices of Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones, who was also seriously hurt in the attack. A year earlier, Eden Strang seriously wounded 11 people when he went on the rampage with a samurai sword at a Roman Catholic Church near his home in Thornton Heath, south London.
They sell them at The Flea Market here.... Actually, they have a great knife guy there.... And some of the local Gun Dealers have booths there too....
Seems they will need a few swords kept around if they want to ban all the weapons people use to attack/kill one another since before long they will have to ban hands and feet and will need an expedient way to remove them from peoples possession and of coarse the people will comply since the authorities will still have sticks and the hands and feet will be the only weapon the people still have. What idiots.
I would protest on religous grounds. <TABLE class=MainVerseTable><TBODY><TR><TD class=VerseHeader></TD><TD class=VerseBody> Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luke 22:36 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Correctme if I'm wrong but aren't the classic martial arts weapons: bo(staff) sai and nunchuks farm implements pressed into service as weapons? Ido have a trick weed whacker,with a 12" piece of wire rope on it...