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Comment by MrBuddyCasino | Hacker News Reader

I wonder why that comment was downvoted?

Because it's irrelevant. I think the UK's knife laws are ridiculous - but an article on medieval eating knives is definitely not the place to discuss that.

People were talking about their modern equivalents. How is it irrelevant that you can't legally have many modern equivalents in the UK?

You can have them, and you can even carry them in public if you have a good reason. Poster said "these are illegal" and that's not true.

A "good reason" doesn't seem to include "because it's convenient to have", which is the reason for a lot of people.

UK is extremely restrictive with their knife laws according to their own page. I don't know why you're trying to depict it otherwise. I'm not even taking a side here.

I agree the UK knife laws are restrictive. But parent poster said "these knives are illegal in UK" -- they're not.

He said they are illegal to carry in public.

Which they're not. There are certain uses are not considered legitimate, but there are legal ways to carry these knives in public.

Because it's incorrect and because it's obvious and tedious troll bait.

The link posted says you can't carry some knives in public unless you have a good reason.

That's different from "Locking knives are illegal in public".

Thanks for the ad hominem attacks.

The acceptable reasons for carrying a knife listed on that government article are:

Examples of good reasons to carry a knife or weapon in public can include:

- taking knives you use at work to and from work

- taking it to a gallery or museum to be exhibited

- if it’ll be used for theatre, film, television, historical reenactment or religious purposes, for example the kirpan some Sikhs carry

- if it’ll be used in a demonstration or to teach someone how to use it

None of those mention carrying an Opinel to cut up an apple, and are so obscure.

In addition, you have the Mayor of London saying there is never any reason to carry a knife [1]. I suspect if you're on a hike in the Yorkshire moors, you could be ok. On the tube in London, probably not. Either way, you are gambling on a policeman's discretion.

[1] https://mobile.twitter.com/mayoroflondon/status/982906526334...

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