Crackdown on Knife Sales Announced

The Government has announced further details of its proposed crackdown on the sale of knives, together with a police led review of the sale of knives online by Commander Clayman of the NPCC (National Police Chiefs Council). The Home Office has committed to a meeting with BRC members around the middle of March to go into further details of the proposals and gather comments on how they can work in practice.

While initially this will apply to the sale of knives online, we understand  that there is consideration of some elements being extended to bricks and mortar sales.

The elements of the proposal being developed (and which may change) are:

• Most elements of the proposal will use the broad definition of knives, including cutlery knives. It also extends to products with a point that could be used in the same way as knives.
• Retailers will be required to report any bulk or suspicious looking purchases of knives to police. The reporting mechanism will be set out in secondary legislation. In this case 'suspicious' means a transaction that would seem to be designed to get around the bulk purchase minimum. Cutlery knives are expected to be excluded from this requirement.
• The Government will consult on whether to introduce a registration/licensing scheme for retailers selling knives, initially for online sellers but with the potential to extend to bricks and mortar.
• The Government believes the age verification system is insufficiently robust so they will spell out what they think the system should look like, including how it should operate at point of delivery. There will be strengthened ID checks on the sale and delivery of knives reflecting the findings in the Review that there are no minimum standards for age verification on sale and especially delivery. The two step process will include photo age ID at time of sale and on delivery for all knife sales with a strict list of the forms of ID that are acceptable - which will be official government documents and digital ID (which is being advanced in the Data (Use and Access) Bill). Delivery companies will only be allowed to deliver to the same person who purchased the product.
• The sentence for selling to under 18s will increase to 2 years and could apply to the individual who processed the sale or the CEO of the company. It will be a two way offence which can be tried in the magistrates or crown court. The increased penalty will also apply to the sale or supply of prohibited offensive weapons such as zombie style knives.
• A new offence of possessing an offensive weapon (whether the weapon is legal or illegal) with intent for violence with a prison sentence of up to 4 years will be introduced.
• There will be a new dedicated national police unit to enforce the law, with £1 million of funding.
• There will be fines of around £10,000 for tech executives who fail to remove illegal knife crime content from their platforms.. 

The BRC has commented:

'Retailers take their responsibilities seriously and are fully committed to playing their part in making sure knives do not make their way into the wrong hands. We look forward to considering the full details of the new proposal and welcome the commitment from the Home Office to meet retailers on this vital issue to ensure the safe sale of knives.'