Banning machetes and zombie-knives 'not a fraction' of what's needed 'to stop knife crime'
The ban will come into force in September
A Liverpool anti-knife campaigner says banning machetes and zombie knives are 'just a fraction' of what's actually needed to combat knife crime.
The Home Secretary will be fast-tracking the ban through parliament today (25 January).
From September, it will be illegal to possess, sell, manufacture or transport these weapons.
The government wants anyone with these weapons to hand them in a knife surrender bin, before an official surrender and compensation scheme is launched in the summer.
This announcement comes just a couple of weeks after a ban was demanded by actor Idris Elba.
Alan Walsh, founder of 'Real Men Don't Carry Knives', said:
"It's good, because they're banning knives, but it's just a knee-jerk reaction.
"This knife crime pandemic has gone on for how long, so why hasn't all this been done many years ago?
"We were waiting for something like this (Idris Elba speaking out) to happen, I'll be honest, somebody of his high profile doing what he done which was brilliant because it's raised awareness more than we could ever do.
"The government are so predictable, they've not got a clue what they're doing - that's the problem. A knee-jerk reaction, we'll try and put something out there to let everyone know that we're doing something about it.
"It's not going to stop knife crime"
"These things are not a fraction of what we need. They might work in some avenues but it's not going to stop knife crime.
"It's education (that's needed). This is not a short-term battle, this is a long-term battle. We're living in a more violent world where young people are more prone to seeing violence and being part of violence. We can't sit here and carry on working the way we did 20-30 years ago with young people. We've got to adapt and work in the modern times that these young people are living in.
"You can't just ban things. Are there resources, is there funding, is there more police coming on the streets to follow this up? Who's going to follow this up? They deliver them to your house. Who's going to monitor all that? No-one, because it costs too much to resource it.
"So don't sit there and tell us you're banning knives because you're not going to keep an eye on it. You might come up with a couple of little stories but you're not going to stop people getting hold of these knives, so don't lie to us.
"Tell us the truth and put more resources into it."
As part of the government's new legislation, police will be given new powers to seize and destroy knives found on private premises if there are reasonable grounds to suspect the blade will be used in a serious crime.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said:
"Knife crime continues to take precious lives away, and I am determined to put an end to this senseless violence.
"We must stop these dangerous knives ending up on our streets and in the hands of criminals. We cannot let them be sold to children, and we must give young people a way out of violence.
"That is why I have expedited the ban on zombie-style machetes and we are increasing the maximum sentence for selling knives to under 18s. We will continue to invest in youth services that have prevented thousands of violent injuries."