Opinel knife

sorry its long but its a full copy and past

The 1689 Bill of Rights ensured that only parliament and not the King could restrict the right of the people to bear arms. Over the course of the 20th century, the UK's parliament has gradually implemented tighter regulation of the civilian ownership of arms such as firearms[8] and knives. The main knife legislation is found in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (CJA), but certain types of knife are banned under the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 (amended 1961) (ROWA), the relevant section of the latter being Section 1:
(1) Any person who manufactures, sells or hires or offers for sale or hire, or exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire or lends or gives to any other person—
(a) any knife which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife, sometimes known as a “flick knife” or “flick gun”; or
(b) any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force and which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever, or other device, sometimes known as a “gravity knife”,
shall be guilty of an offence [...]
Subsection 2 also makes it illegal to import knives of this type. As a result it is (almost) impossible to obtain such a knife without either committing or abetting an offence. The above legislation does not refer to possession of such knives other than possession for the purpose of sale or hire; it is therefore not illegal per se to merely possess such a knife.
The CJA 1988 mainly relates to carrying knives in public places, section 139 being the most important:
(1) Subject to subsections (4) and (5) below, any person who has an article to which this section applies with him in a public place shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, this section applies to any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed except a folding pocketknife.
(3) This section applies to a folding pocketknife if the cutting edge of its blade exceeds 3 inches.
(4) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had good reason or lawful authority for having the article with him in a public place.
The phrase "good reason" in subsection 4 is intended to allow for "common sense" possession of knives, so that it is legal to carry a knife if there is a bona fide reason to do so. Subsection 5 gives some specific examples of bona fide reasons: a knife for use at work (e.g. a chef's knife), as part of a national costume (e.g. a sgian dubh for the Scottish national costume), or for religious reasons (e.g. a Sikh Kirpan).
The special exception which exists in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (s139) for folding knives (pocket knives) is another "common sense" measure accepting that some small knives are carried for general utility; however, even a folding pocket knife of less than 3" (76 mm) may still be considered an offensive weapon if carried or used for that purpose. It is a common belief that a folding knife must be non-locking for this provision to apply, but the wording of the Criminal Justice Act does not mention locking and the matter becomes a question as to the definition of "folding pocket knife". In the case of R. v Deegan (1998) [9] in the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the ruling that 'folding' was intended to mean 'non-locking' was upheld. As the only higher court in England and Wales is the Supreme Court the only way this ruling could be overturned is by a dissenting ruling by the Supreme Court or by Act of Parliament.
The Offensive Weapons Act 1996 covers the possession of knives within school premises:
(1) Any person who has an article to which section 139 of this Act applies with him on school premises shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) Any person who has an offensive weapon within the meaning of section 1 of the M1 Prevention of Crime Act 1953 with him on school premises shall be guilty of an offence.
(3) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) or (2) above to prove that he had good reason or lawful authority for having the article or weapon with him on the premises in question.
(This is followed by subsection 4 which gives the same specific exceptions as subsection 139(5) with the addition of "for educational purposes".) This would appear to imply that all legislation on knives in public applies similarly to school premises, and therefore a folding pocket knife under 3" in length would be considered legal.
The Offensive Weapons Act 1996 imposes an age restriction on the sale of knives:
(1) Any person who sells to a person under the age of sixteen years an article to which this section applies shall be guilty of an offence [...]
(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, this section applies to—
(a) any knife, knife blade or razor blade, [...]
(Exceptions follow for safety razor blades, so only straight razors are affected.)
British courts have in the past taken the marketing of a particular brand of knife into account when considering whether an otherwise legal folding knife was carried as an offensive weapon. A knife which is marketed as "tactical", "military", "special ops", etc. could therefore carry an extra liability. The Knives Act 1997 now restricts the marketing of knives as offensive weapons and thus it is much less likely that such marketing could be used as evidence against a defendant.
Although English law insists that it is the responsibility of the prosecution to provide evidence proving a crime has been committed, an individual must provide evidence to prove that they had a bona fide reason for carrying a knife (if this is the case). While this may appear to be a reversal of the usual burden of proof, technically the prosecution has already proven the case (prima facie) by establishing that a knife was being carried in a public place.
 
copied from another shooting site

Shooting legal advice
DAVID FROST
Scottish law differs to that in England and Wales but the main legislation affecting anyone using a knife for the purposes described by your son is the same throughout Great Britain.

It is illegal to have any sharply pointed or bladed instrument (think scissors, screwdrivers, Stanley knives etc as well as ordinary knives) in your possession in a public place without good reason or lawful authority.

The only exception to this is the traditional pocket knife with a non-locking, folding blade less than three inches long.

A public place is anywhere the public has or is permitted to have access. The land on which your son ferrets may or may not be a public place but it is virtually certain he has to travel via a public place to get there.

If your son is carrying a knife for the purpose of paunching rabbits or gutting fish then he has a good reason for having the knife with him and is acting entirely within the law.

That covers your son for travelling to and from the place where he ferrets or fishes and also covers him if he stops off in a shop for a pint of milk or whatever on the way home.

However, if he were to go to the cinema on a Friday night and find he had forgotten to remove the knife from his pocket before leaving home he would be liable to prosecution.

It is an offence to sell a bladed or pointed item to anyone under the age of 18. The law is intended to stop inner city thugs and hooligans from cutting up each other or innocent bystanders.

Unfortunately it causes the law abiding more inconvenience than it causes the ungodly.

It is also a sad reflection on modern society that law abiding teenagers feel themselves at risk of being stopped by the police
 
"It is also a sad reflection on modern society that law abiding teenagers feel themselves at risk of being stopped by the police "

Too true Frank, but I would say all of us fear this not just teenagers. Just think of the poor old guy who was prosecuted because he had a Swiss army knife in the glove box of his camper van which he used for picnics.
You have to rely upon the individual police officer using common sense, which sometimes doesn’t happen unfortunately and can cause you some difficulty. Just think about it, you constantly carry knives and screwdrivers in your van what if you should be stopped by an over jealous officer while going out for the evening. Yes you would probably eventually win your case but it cause some difficulties in the short term.
 
8x57,

think safe and leave it in the motor, erm as Fb says its still a public place.
best lock it away and only take out when ready to stalk.
be safe thats the motto.

M, keep up the good work mate re Help the heroes shoot. Big +1 for another mate

f.
 
i was pulled by the plod for some minor alleged traffic offence which was bogus on their part.
point being that they went over my car with a fine tooth comb to try and find any other reason to book me.
I have an 8" divers knife in the glove box and a tool box full of various stanley knives, screwdrivers, hammers, sharp implements etc etc

PC said I was carrying an illegal weapon in a public place.
I asked him "politely" how a vehicle that only I had access to, (no-one else has a key!) was public and explained that said knife was used to cut some heater hose the rpeviosu day when I did some work on the car.

a car is NOT a public place and reasonable explanation was given. no legs to stand on....."thank you for your time officer. goodbye"
 
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