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Britain’s Poundland discount chain has announced it will stop selling kitchen knives in all of its stores to help tackle soaring youth violence.
The company, whose stores have been a major fixture on UK high streets since 1990, is the first major retailer to go ahead with the anti-knife measure recently recommended by a judge, and other brands are expected to follow suit, according to the Birmingham Mail.

As of Friday, kitchen knives are no longer available at any of its 59 West Midlands branches, Poundland said, noting that the ban will be extended to all 850 UK stores by the end of the year.

Reportedly suffering “epidemic” levels of violence, the West Midlands has the fastest growing rate of knife crime outside London, where the company banned blade sales in April after the capital saw 35 deadly stabbings in the just first few months of 2018.

Poundland retail director, Austin Cooke, said: “The decision to stop selling kitchen knives not only in the West Midlands, but nationwide, is a commitment that we know means a lot to both our colleagues and our customers.

“For a long time they’ve expressed their concern around the associated risk of having knives available and the unfortunate truth is that in the wrong hands, knives can be used for the wrong purpose.

[Ed. note: So can any number of tools.]

“The safety of our colleagues and customers is crucial and we hope our fellow retailers will follow our lead,” he added.

[Ed. note: Like lemmings off a cliff.]

Crime researcher Emilia Gill, from the anti-youth violence campaign JAGS Foundation, said Poundland’s decision to pull knives off the shelf was “a good start”, but argued that many lives could have been saved had companies taken action sooner.

“The problem with knives is that you can always find somewhere to access them,” she told The Sun. “So even though Poundland has decided to do this, and it’s a brilliant start, you can just walk down the street to another shop and buy a knife that is virtually the same.

[Ed. note: No? Really? Somebody educate this ditz on the concept of a "shiv." What next: Bench grinders?]

Earlier this year Judge Nic Madge called for police to organise a national programme to blunt the points of the public’s kitchen knives.

Alleging long, sharp blades are unnecessary for ordinary domestic food preparation, the judge said a ban on chefs’ knives would be life-saving in Britain.

[Ed. note: Yeah, cutlery makers have only been making 'em that way for centuries "just because." (And I doubt it's actually chef's knives the miscreants are using. This is what happens when the clueless use terms they don't really understand.)]

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Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
The pattern seems clear. Eliminate guns, they use knives. Eliminate knives, they will use ...

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Baseball Bats Put to Deadly Use in Poland

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"The baseball-bat crime epidemic has grown so severe in recent months

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the unfortunate truth is that in the wrong hands, knives can be used for the wrong purpose.

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Originally posted by wcb6092:
We are headed back to the stone age.

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_{What part of "...Shall not be infringed" don't you understand???}

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Originally posted by wcb6092:
We are headed back to the stone age.

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Originally posted by ensigmatic:

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Originally posted by Scoutmaster:
The pattern seems clear. Eliminate guns, they use knives. Eliminate knives, they will use ...

And that's where it stops, because "knives" suitable for simple aggression against the unarmed are trivially easy to fabricate. Some rebar, a hacksaw, bench grinder and file, and some electrical tape (leather boot lace or paracord if you want to get fancy): Violà: "Knife". (Well, fancy shiv, but it serves the same purpose.)

Idiots