One of my major news sources is the BBC. A knock-on effect of this is that I keep getting exposed to the curious (read: crazy) panic about sharp objects that has swept through the UK, moving in parallel with the general fear of their own youth that seems to have swept the nation as well. Previously, I've reported on entirely rational plans like evicting families with problem kids, and the general manufacturing of a knife epidemic in the UK. In that latter post, I made a crack about how I'd just order my kitchen knives from Amazon to avoid the risk of being arrested for walking home with them from the local Tesco.
Well, apparently the fear is one up on me there, as a new BBC article reports that, in true scandal fashion, a teenager managed to order some machetes online.
Trading standards officers have called for a ban on online knife sales after a machete was sold to a 15-year-old for £1.50 over the internet.
The potential weapon was delivered in the mail in bubble wrap and cardboard to the teenager who was testing under-age sales for trading standards.
The tests found that 214 out of 835 stores in England and Wales sold knives illegally to under-18s.
The problems were more acute online, where 80% sold knives to young people.
"As knife crime remains a problem in many of our towns and cities, it beggars belief that so many traders are still prepared to sell potentially lethal weapons to children," said Ron Gainsford, chief executive of the Trading Standards Institute (TSI).
They're going to be awfully disappointed to learn that people can stab each other with screwdrivers and pointed sticks. I'm not sure what the game plan will be the next time someone is beaten to death with a cricket bat.
Clearly, knives (as with guns and pretty much any other weapon) raise the likelihood that violence will result in serious injury and death. That said, they don't cause the violence, and the increasing tendency to panic about kids and assume in advance that they are all criminals isn't going to help promote non-violent resolutions, nor will make those same kids feel like they can comfortably talk to their parents, the police, or other authorities if there's an issue.
Seen from a distance, the current panic in the UK about "those kids these days" is curious and a little sad.