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<p>Keeping people safe is the Government’s top priority, including from violent crime
involving the misuse of knives and other offensive weapons. This is why the law makes
it an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason, makes it an offence
to sell to under 18s and why a number of knives and offensive weapons, including zombie
knives, are banned.</p><p>The Government does not currently have plans to ban any
additional, specific types of knives, but we do keep the law under review and the
Government will not hesitate to take action if needed. This is why we have strengthened
the law on knives and other offensive weapons, through the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.
The Act will make it an offence to possess certain offensive weapons in private, it
will stop knives being sent to residential addresses after they are bought online,
unless the seller has arrangements in place with the delivery company to ensure that
the product will not be delivered to an under 18. The Act will also:</p><ul><li>change
the legal definition for threatening with an offensive weapon to make prosecutions
more straightforward;</li></ul><ul><li>ban the possession of knives on a further education
premises;</li><li>update the definition of a flick knife to reflect changing weapon
designs;</li></ul><p>and</p><ul><li>introduce Knife Crime Prevention Orders to help
the police target those most at risk of being drawn into serious violence.</li></ul><p>The
Government also works with retailers to encourage responsible sales of knives. We
have agreed a set of commitments with eighteen major high-street and online retailers
to prevent the sale of knives to under-18s, which cover staff training, displays,
and packaging. We are continuing to work with retailers to stop knives getting into
the hands of young people.</p><p>We have also committed to introducing a new court
order to target known knife carriers and make it easier for the police to stop and
search those convicted of knife crime offences, to deter them from continuing to carry
knives, and to make it more likely that those who persist in doing so will be caught,
brought before the courts, and sent to prison.</p>
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