I'm Bloody Livid: Amazon Refuse to Sell Me a Set of Kitchen Knives.

[mawnansmiff]

but I would just buy my knives somewhere else.

But that is my very point, I cannot buy any knives from anyone if my ID cannot be verified by Experian and it's that very thing that makes this whole thing stink.

Why should a company who up until now I'd never heard of have control over what I can and cannot buy?

I appreciate this government needs to tackle the issue of street stabbings but doing it this way just makes me think Big Brother is watching my every move.

I feel as though I'm being penalised for having never applied for credit from anyone as apparently that is the only way to get yourself on Experian's database.

Crazy.

Jay.

 

[mawnansmiff]

There has been ridicule here of the perceived stupidity of age restricting the sale of knives.

This post reminded me that in December I got a letter from H.M. Courts telling me I had been selected for jury service.

So clearly the government know I'm over 18 if no one else does.

Incidentally the court case (I managed to get out of jury service) involved the stabbing murder of a guy outside a nightclub!

Jay.

 

[karam]

At one time you could go to your preferred supermarket and browse their huge range of kitchen knives but not anymore, most if not all have stopped stocking knives full stop.

I am not a knife buff, but I know and like to keep knives sharp. One of the best knives we have at home was bought in a Sainsbury's in Birmingham ~25 years ago, and another was bought in IKEA again around Birmingham, ~20 years ago. These knives I took with me from the UK to Greece and now Switzerland.

Over here (Switzerland) you can still buy a knife in a supermarket or other store, the law says that it has to remain within its packaging until you get home, and can't be carried around afterwards. The funny thing is they have a culture of pocketknives for nature/hiking/picnic/whittling down wood to roast sausages with. In fact our kids' school asked us to buy them some specific pocketknives for their forest excursions. About 4.5cm blade, but still a real blade.

No crazy gun or knife crime in Switzerland either, and the Swiss have plenty of guns and fairly easygoing laws to own rifles, pistols etc. I think concealable weapons like brass knuckles, switchblades are totally forbidden over here. It's the human that's the problem, not the tool.

 

[jguss]

It's the human that's the problem, not the tool.

Sometimes they’re the same thing. I know a few.

 

[mawnansmiff]

The funny thing is they have a culture of pocketknives for nature/hiking/picnic/whittling down wood to roast sausages with. In fact our kids' school asked us to buy them some specific pocketknives for their forest excursions.

I remember as a lad of about 12 when my father bought me my first penknife (Sheffield made of course) and I was delighted. Most lads my age had one and nobody thought it was a bad thing.

However nowadays things have massively changed. The below is from a police website....

It is an offence to carry any sharp or bladed instrument in a public place, with the exception of a folding pocket knife where the cutting edge of the blade is 7.62 cm (3 inches) or less. Please note that the term ‘cutting edge’ is not limited to an area of the blade that has a textured or serrated edge. The courts have held that the whole length of the side of the blade is to be included in the measurement.

A lock knife is not a folding pocket knife and therefore it is an offence to carry around such a knife regardless of the length of the blade, if you do not have good reason. A lock knife has blades that can be locked and refolded only by pressing a button. A lock knife has a mechanism which locks the blade in position when fully extended, the blade cannot be closed without that mechanism being released. A lock knife is not an offensive weapon per se, as these knives were made with a specific purpose in mind were not intended as a weapon. However, possession of a lock knife in a public place without good reason is an offence.

Possession of a multi-tool incorporating a prohibited blade or pointed article is capable of being an offence under this section even if there are other tools on the instrument, which may be of use to a person in a public place, for example a screwdriver or a can opener. It is for the person to prove on the balance of probabilities that they have a good reason for possession.

The ban is not total, it is for the person in possession of such an instrument to prove on the balance of probabilities that they had good reason for its possession. It will have to be genuine, for example, someone back packing across the Lake District may reasonably be expected to have a knife for the preparation of meals. It will be far more difficult to justify on the streets of a city or town, but there will be occasions when someone is genuinely going to a martial arts sport or scout meeting which is easily checked.

The penalty for committing this offence is a maximum prison sentence of four years.

I carry on my belt a Leatherman Wave (original model) and that has a straight blade of just under 3" and a serrated blade of exactly 3". Both are lockable.

The only time it raised eyebrows was when I was in hospital where it wasn't exactly confiscated but I was told to leave it in my bedside locker!

Jay.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

 

[woodsroad]

This post reminded me that in December I got a letter from H.M. Courts telling me I had been selected for jury service.

So clearly the government know I'm over 18 if no one else does.

Incidentally the court case (I managed to get out of jury service) involved the stabbing murder of a guy outside a nightclub!

Jay.

Damn, I would argue that had the defendant been able to acquire a firearm, he never would have stabbed the guy!

 

[timelord]

As I suspected, as I've never applied for credit I have no credit rating on Experian but for the life of me I cannot see the connection because I only spend what I have, therefore don't need credit, that somehow bars me from buying kitchen knives. Utter madness.

Why Don't I Have a Credit Score? - Experian​

"You have never used traditional credit accounts. Your credit history will begin only when a creditor—such as a credit card issuer or lender—reports a record of....".

I've just been reading how all the major supermarkets here in Blighted Blighty stopped selling kitchen knives some while ago.

Jay.

After 4 years in Brazil I noticed our local (and very large) supermarket had kitchen knives for sale today... ...for the first time since I've been here! In fact; I had been looking to get a new knife and couldn't find anywhere that sold them (I live pretty much smack bank in the centre of São Paulo; not exactly a small village) so I had come to the conclusion that Brazil must have been doing the same as UK (and Australia) and restricting where knives can be bought.

Actually Oz wasn't so bad; right outside the supermarket, and in the same mall, was a kitchenware store which had the most impressive array of Japanese and European kitchen knives; all for sale and no ID required.

 

[timelord]

my Santa's Sleigh Drivers License (Yes, it's a thing and it comes with a gold tone badge.)

As a 64 year old with a full white beard; I have to ask, how does one get a Santa's Sleigh Drivers License?

 

[timelord]

I am not a knife buff, but I know and like to keep knives sharp. One of the best knives we have at home was bought in a Sainsbury's in Birmingham ~25 years ago, and another was bought in IKEA again around Birmingham, ~20 years ago. These knives I took with me from the UK to Greece and now Switzerland.

Over here (Switzerland) you can still buy a knife in a supermarket or other store, the law says that it has to remain within its packaging until you get home, and can't be carried around afterwards. The funny thing is they have a culture of pocketknives for nature/hiking/picnic/whittling down wood to roast sausages with. In fact our kids' school asked us to buy them some specific pocketknives for their forest excursions. About 4.5cm blade, but still a real blade.

No crazy gun or knife crime in Switzerland either, and the Swiss have plenty of guns and fairly easygoing laws to own rifles, pistols etc. I think concealable weapons like brass knuckles, switchblades are totally forbidden over here. It's the human that's the problem, not the tool.

I spent a lot of time in Switzerland in the early 2000's. After a couple of shootings they changed to regulations regarding military weapons. Prior to this, all Swiss in the army (essentially everyone over 18 and under ?? as the army is part time) had to keep their weapon and ammunition at home. Now they must keep the weapon at home but the ammunition is kept at their base. So my friend who is a tank commander (only 4 weeks a year -4 weeks for officers, 2 weeks for other ranks) has to keep his allocated weapons at home... ...but although he's Swiss and works in Lugano he lives in Italy so the guns are kept at his mums house!

It was at the time I was there the restrictions on carrying blades in hand luggage on aeroplanes was brought in... ...but you could still buy Swiss Army knives in Zurich Duty Free (admittedly securely packaged in plastic) and take these on International flights (except flights to the US) much to the amazement of some passengers.

 

[simong]

As a 64 year old with a full white beard; I have to ask, how does one get a Santa's Sleigh Drivers License?

At the DVLA in Swansea, same as everyone else!

 

[timelord]

UK, we’re laughing at you because you can’t buy a knife. It’s okay, laugh with us.
I get proofed when I buy cold medicine. Same scheme, different item.

Yup. I was working in Detroit a few years ago and caught a nasty cold. The rigmarole I had to go through to be sold an all-in-one cold remedy at the pharmacy was unbelievable. Obviously, not being American, I failed the first hurdle of not having a National Insurance Number and the second by not having a Michigan Drivers Licence (apparently an Aussie one wasn't good enough); but UK passport was accepted ... eventually); local phone number (no, they couldn't accept my Aussie cell phone but they could accept the hotel switchboard number) and I had to sign the poisons register too. All this for something you could buy in a supermarket in the UK with no questions asked

Fortunately the pharmacist was an older gentlemen who made the effort to help me; if it had been a younger employee I suspect I would have just been shown the door.

 

[jpberg]

Yup. I was working in Detroit a few years ago and caught a nasty cold. The rigmarole I had to go through to be sold an all-in-one cold remedy at the pharmacy was unbelievable. Obviously, not being American, I failed the first hurdle of not having a National Insurance Number and the second by not having a Michigan Drivers Licence (apparently an Aussie one wasn't good enough); but UK passport was accepted ... eventually); local phone number (no, they couldn't accept my Aussie cell phone but they could accept the hotel switchboard number) and I had to sign the poisons register too. All this for something you could buy in a supermarket in the UK with no questions asked

Fortunately the pharmacist was an older gentlemen who made the effort to help me; if it had been a younger employee I suspect I would have just been shown the door.

If a nasty cold was all that your time in Detroit resulted in you are obviously a blessed man.

 

[timelord]

At the DVLA in Swansea, same as everyone else!

Except I don't live in the UK...

 

[timelord]

If a nasty cold was all that your time in Detroit resulted in you are obviously a blessed man.

After several months in Detroit I came to the conclusion it was nowhere near as bad as people make out... ...but it was bl@@dy cold in winter.

 

[simong]

Except I don't live in the UK...

That’s where you’re going wrong then! You want the bureaucratical paperwork, you’ll have to come to the UK & embrace the bureaucracy! lol

 

[georged]

Welcome to the leading edge of what will soon take over everything.

The granularity of monitoring citizens is now "available" regarding travel, purchases, communication, personal property, association with other citizens, and so on, right down to pennies spent and physical location on the Earth's surface within six feet.

Because monitoring the massive amount of data is too much work for humans, programs---and increasingly AI---is being used for the purpose.

The people who create laws, rules, and regulations are the ones who tell the expert-system coders and AI modelers what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

Don't like it?

Want to push back or protest?

You better get busy, because when all money becomes electronic---a cashless society is achieved---absolute control will be possible. All it will take to shut down anyone who defies The Controllers will be flipping a switch. Make them a black hole. No money, no credit, no nothing. And those who try to assist them will suffer the same fate.

Food for thought:

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc, all the way back to Vlad the Impaler and Attila the Hun managed to do what they did in an entirely analog world. Meaning human spies, human informers, human enforcement, and weapons that made a clinking noise when knocked with a wrench.

What they could have done with today's unavoidable-fabric-of-society technology and bloodless "death by black hole" forced compliance would be orders of magnitude worse.

 

[mawnansmiff]

After 4 years in Brazil I noticed our local (and very large) supermarket had kitchen knives for sale today.

Up until relatively recently it was still possible to buy kitchen knives in all major supermarkets (albeit with some control) but they all stopped after certain news editors of certain newspapers hired underage folk to go in and buy knives.

They were filmed by the undercover pressmen choosing the knife, paying for the knife then showing the knife and receipt upon a successful purchase.

So many supermarkets got stung that way (and heavily fined) and since then, they all refused to sell knives.

Jay.

 

[jaingorenard]

Up until relatively recently it was still possible to buy kitchen knives in all major supermarkets (albeit with some control) but they all stopped after certain news editors of certain newspapers hired underage folk to go in and buy knives.

They were filmed by the undercover pressmen choosing the knife, paying for the knife then showing the knife and receipt upon a successful purchase.

So many supermarkets got stung that way (and heavily fined) and since then, they all refused to sell knives.

Jay.

I believe this happened years ago to our local tobacconist. The pathetic local paper hired some underage people, heavily made up, to go in and buy some tobacco. Not sure if it was what caused them to close down (that was the rumour), but it certainly didn't help.

 

[pappymac]

As a 64 year old with a full white beard; I have to ask, how does one get a Santa's Sleigh Drivers License?

You can find all sorts of different Santa's Sleigh License by searching the internet.
I bought mind when I officially became Santa about seven years ago. I also have a red license & badge holder. Mine are in storage at the moment or I would post a photo.