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Germany getting tough on knife crime

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants to further restrict the carrying of knives in public, to combat a perceived rise in knife crime. The opposition has criticized the plan as impractical.

The German government has promised tougher knife laws after the police reported a rise in the number of stabbings, especially near train stations — though the statistics remain controversial.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has called for the law to be changed so that only blades of 6 centimeters (2.36 inches) would be allowed to be carried in public, rather than the current 12 centimeters. An exception would be made for household knives in their original packaging. Switchblades would be banned altogether.

…

The government pronouncement came after police statistics recorded a 5.6% year-on-year rise in cases of serious bodily harm involving a knife, with 8,951 incidents in 2023. The federal police, which is responsible for safety at Germany’s airports and major railway stations, also reported a significant increase in knife attacks in and around stations, with 430 in the first six months of this year.

Ghostalmedia ,
@Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world avatar

Germany, cutting down on knife crime.

OfCourseNot ,
@OfCourseNot@fedia.io avatar

Eu! Du ju habe a leucence fur dat neuf mait!?

calabast ,

The only thing that will stop knife crime is more good people with knives!

/s

superterran ,
@superterran@lemmy.world avatar

The virtue of a knife law is that if you’re caught with it, you’re subjected to it. People carry them around 364 days or the year without problem, if the one time you stabbed a guy that’s the issue. So a law making it harder the rest of the time seems wise, as it would reduce the chances

jordanlund ,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Weird, we essentially have no knife restrictions here at all and

oregonlive.com/…/portland-police-arrest-man-in-al…

oregonlive.com/…/man-arrested-after-allegedly-thr…

kbnd.com/kbnd-news/regional-news/504157

katu.com/…/victim-in-portland-kidnapping-says-man…

kptv.com/…/neighbors-man-with-machete-threatening…

yahoo.com/…/heavy-police-presence-portland-montav…

newsregister.com/article?articleTitle=alleged-mac…

Oh.

nicerdicer ,

This is a futile attempt to establish safety, and it is done so that it can be claimed that something has been done.

If some person has the intention to do any harm to others, this person would not be stopped by any restriction to carry any weapon.

The real issues lay much deeper: A growing number of refugees and asylum seekers that want to work, but are prohibited to do so, but at the same time these are competing in an already tight housing market. Raising costs of living, growing inequality, growing envy and a part of the population which is on the brink of shiftig into a nazi movement, with a growing resentment to foreign people. It takes more than putting up a sign that says that weapons are forbidden beyond this point to solve these problems.

https://feddit.org/pictrs/image/38bfb537-853f-4aa0-8fa2-e3ca9fdbde1e.png

Also, in Germany there is no reason ever to walk around with waepons. Compared to other parts of the world it is pretty safe here.

Putting up a sign that states that weapon are forbidden would have the same impact as putting up a sign that forbids wild fires in the forest or flooding near a body of water.

yournamehere ,

in denmark that law worked wonders and was later expanded so you are not allowed to have a screw driver on you if you are not needing it for some work. so at party disctricts or railstations no one can have stuff that can be used for stabbing.

whats the worst this law can do? a few less assholes with weapons.

nicerdicer ,

The question is: why would anyone carry a knife in the first place? I can’t think of any reason. Personally, such law wouldn’t have any impact on me, because I don’t carry a knife with me. I can see the intention with such law, and it probably might help to percieve a more secure enviroment.

If someone wanted to do some stabbing inside a party district, such law wouldn’t stop them - unless one has to pass through a security checkpoint (which to my knowledge are not a thing).

clif ,

I’ve carried a knife in my pocket everyday for the past 35 years or so. It’s a useful tool both for actual work and mundane tasks like opening boxes/etc.

A few weeks ago I was hiking near a lake and found a bird entangled in fishing line. It would’ve been very difficult to free it without some type of blade. Hell, it took almost 15 minutes even with the knife because it was so wrapped up and distressed.

nicerdicer ,

Fair enough, I didn’t think of that. What you described is the intended use for pocket knives, MacGyver style.

What I thought of when writing my comment were kind of hunting knives. No one needs that inside an urban environment.

clif ,

Ah yeah, that makes sense. There’s a big difference between a 7cm folding pocket knife and a 20cm fixed blade rambo-esque hunting knife… And I can’t think of any reason to carry the latter around in a city : )

Viking_Hippie ,

Now I’m picturing you in a reversed version of the famous Crocodile Dundee scene with him brandishing his huge knife and you going “that’s not a tool. THIS is a tool!” as you get out your pocket knife 😁

raef ,

I can imagine some situations. I was at a party when we were cooking and the knives were shit. Went home and brought back over an 8 inch chef’s knife.

I did not have the original packaging to carry it. My cardboard and tape sheath would not have met the letter of this law

nicerdicer ,

This would be the use case, where you would break the law, when entering such restriction zone. Unless, of course, your skin tone has the right shade, as police unfortunately does things like racial profiling. If pale, you were on your way to a cooking party - if darker-skinned, you luckily were caught in the act!

raef ,

Unfortunately, it probably would go like that. The snippet above just said “in public” so I assumed that would include just down the street

catloaf ,

Yeah. You ban knives, people will switch to axes, machetes, bats, pipes, chains, brass knuckles, and so on. I’ve been saying this for a long time about the US as well. You can ban guns in the US and you’ll just end up with knife crime like this. You need to actually address the root causes of socioeconomic inequality that actually drives crime (and lack of mental health care too).

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah, because a semi or fully automatic assault knife can just as easily be used from the window of a hotel to make dozens of victims.

And criminals having knifes will just mean the police has to start wearing knight armor and carry swords and shields.

Your comment aligns perfectly with the Reich wing gun nuts, but you try to sell it using “let’s adress inequality”… Do both!

Allowing the amount of unregulated firearms into your society as the US does and then prohibiting the CDC to actually research gun deaths is just weird to everyone else. But does perfectly line up with the statistics that non-whites die from gun violence at larger %… So then it’s OK.

the_toast_is_gone ,

How do you propose we lower the number of guns in our society in a way that disarms criminals and doesn’t violate people’s right to self defense?

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Vote 2/3 majority Dems into both houses and change the fucking constitution to shut op the “muh rites” argument and enact sane gun control.

the_toast_is_gone ,

So the government can decide what rights are? If the Republicans get a 2/3 majority and amends the Constitution to say that LGBT+ people can be killed at any moment, does that make it right?

Also, let’s assume your proposal happens. What specific policies do you mean by “sane gun control”?

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Besides the fact that having one on you would be a crime if you are stopped and checked, instead of being handed it back and sent on your way. Using one as a weapon would be 2 crimes instead of 1.

Plus it gives a message… this (carrying around a knife) is unacceptable in our society.

Finally the fact that a law might not be easily enforced is no reason not do have it on the books if the law enphasises what we want our society to be like (I think most agree that running around with big knifes is not something we want).

The point about people dumped into the asylum system and not allowed to do anything but be bored is an important one though. Idle hands are the devil’s play things.

SkaveRat ,

this (carrying around a knife) is unacceptable in our society.

the problem is, that even having a pocket knife on you would get you in trouble.

Got a swiss army knife in your backpack because it’s part of your EDC? Tough luck. To the police station with you

brrt ,

I don’t understand. No law prevents anyone from doing what’s forbidden. Are you saying all laws are futile? Otherwise what is different with this law that makes it futile?

Also, we usually can do many things at once or in succession. We can raise prices on sugary food, start programs to inform the public about the impact sugar has on health, make school lunches more healthy etc. Would you complain that it is futile raising prices if it was the first thing proposed or would you say “Good, let’s do this and also the other things.”?

nicerdicer ,

Are you saying all laws are futile? Otherwise what is different with this law that makes it futile?

I do not say that all laws are futile. The difference with this particular measurement is that it is odd to me, that a no-weapon zone is being established, as it is quite unusual that Germans carry around weapons in general. At least not where I live. People carrying around weapons of any kind is just not a thing here.

There are other laws, speed restrictions for instance. I get that there is a necessity to enforce such thing, as people have cars and tend to drive faster than they should. Speeding with a car is more common than carrying a weapon. That’s why this law makes sense, as it adresses the issue right there. Speeding doesn’t have an underlying issue that causes drivers to speed.

The thing what makes it futile in my opinion is that a restriction in carrying weapons does not solve the underlying issues (the root causes of socio-economic inequality, among others) that probably lead to harming others with knives. It’s just treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Cosmonauticus ,

Cut it out

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