It’s finally happened. Calls for mandatory sentences for “carrying a knife.” What about running with scissors?
One surely sympathizes with parents of children who have been stabbed to death, but are there not other measures that one might try before banning knives and punishing the mere carrying of one with a greater penalty than its criminal use would bring?
There is already such a law in Sweden. It was enacted in 1988, and the penalty for carrying a knife in a public place is maximally 6 months in prison. Again and alas, it seems as if the Swedish model is emulated in other countries.
We must protect society and the Public Good from the dangers of sharp pencils, forks with three tines and maybe four, oyster knives, sporks, fountain pen nibs (but inkwells are fine), and that greatest danger of all, bottle openers. It’s a shame that there isn’t some strong American figure to take up this just and noble cause.