Wednesday, September 25, 2024, 01:03
They are called ‘zombie’ knives in the UK. The explanation for their name is simple: they are bladed weapons with a blade of more than twenty centimetres and a serrated edge, designed in an exaggerated way to imitate the style of those usually carried by survivors of zombie apocalypses in series and films. The bad thing is that their use is not limited only to fiction. It has been extrapolated to real life, to the streets of England and Wales, becoming a real scourge.
A law banning ‘zombie’ knives in the United Kingdom came into force on Tuesday. From now on, it will be illegal to manufacture, possess, distribute and sell these bladed weapons, which have become the most commonly used by criminal gangs operating in the country. Just one day before the ban, a 15-year-old teenager was stabbed to death with one of them in London. But this is not an isolated case. According to data from the BBC, in 2023 there were up to 14,000 crimes in which at least one ‘zombie’ knife was involved.
London: Armed police respond to a man on the bus carrying a zombie knife.
Look at that knife… it’s more like a sword pic.twitter.com/B80tr8E1fv
– WeGotitBack April 30, 2024
Their use has become more widespread in recent years on British streets, especially among the younger population. Recent cases, such as the one that occurred last June in Nottingham, where two minors aged 12 murdered another teenager with one of them, have produced a national shock. The actor Idris Elba, known for his roles in films and series such as ‘The Wire’, launched a campaign against the use of these knives at the beginning of the year, denouncing that, “in 2023, more than 100 young people died due to crime related to these weapons.”
A little more than one euro per knife
The UK government announced the new law banning the use of ‘zombie’ knives in January and a month ago launched an amnesty plan so that people who possessed these weapons could hand them in without the risk of being arrested or committing a crime. To do so, the Executive urged their owners to do so as soon as possible, with September 23 as the deadline. They could leave them anonymously, depositing them in the containers deployed by the authorities, or without hiding their identity, taking them in person to the police stations. In exchange they would receive a compensation of 10 pounds (around 1.20 euros at the current exchange rate) for their good behaviour.
The firm Sporting Wholesale, which sells these knives and other items wholesale, has handed over up to 35,000 to the authorities, receiving £350,000 (about 420,000 euros) in return. Other companies such as DAI Leisure, a specialist adventure sports company based in the West Midlands, have disposed of 107 that they had in stock. Alex House, head of knife crime for Bedfordshire Police, told the BBC that “these weapons are designed to kill and maim”. “They have no other practical use,” he warned.
However, many people think the new law is insufficient, as they believe young people have alternative ways of going out with knives. Hayley Ryall, mother of a 16-year-old who was stabbed to death with a knife, believes that “if we don’t change the way these children think, they will continue to carry weapons.” “Knives will continue to be available to them. If they are not ‘zombies’ they will be kitchen knives or something else,” she says.
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