The Last British Samurai (Hell in a Handbasket)

I wasn't always a firearms advocate. There once was a time when I was involved in the open hand martial arts.

The students would like to get together after our bi-weekly class and shoot the bull. I distinctly remember one conversation with a more advanced student who was very well read when it came to history. He stated that the deadliest unarmed fighting styles were developed in Okinawa after the conquering Japanese imposed a weapons ban. They thought it would make it easier to control the population if they took away all the military gear like swords and spears, and instead they prompted the locals to develop fighting styles based on adapting agricultural tools into fighting tools.

Instead of helping to control the population, the Japanese actually created problems for themselves that lasted for centuries.

Is all that true? Well, not exactly. But it is one way to look at it, even if it isn't entirely accurate.

I was reminded of that story while browsing over at knirirr's blog. It seems that the British government has finally gotten around to passing a ban on imported, imitation samurai swords.

Why? It would seem that they are deadly instruments of mass death!

(Please click on all pictures to see if a larger image is available.)

I've been keeping an eye on this ever since it was first proposed back in March. Follow that last link and you can read the original Home Office press release that announced the proposed ban.

This is what Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker had to say back then....

“Knife crime and sharp instrument homicides have remained stable, while violent crime has fallen by over a third in the last nine years. It is already illegal to have a samurai sword in a public place but I want to restrict the number of dangerous weapons in circulation to enhance community safety.”

Get that? According to him, violent crime was down and knife crime was steady, but he still wanted the ban anyway!

(Is Coaker being totally honest when he says that violent crime is down? You can check the data and decide for yourself.)

But let us go back to knirirr's post for a moment. A reader left a comment, stating that the British sword market was suffering from low prices. The expectation is that the government will soon ban all swords, even valuable antiques, so no one is buying.

I wonder. Is there any reason why they can't sell to an American? UPS is in Britain, right? They could ship to my front door!

As for me, I'm looking for replica samurai swords to drop in price here in the United States as excess output is shunted from Old Blighty to some place where people can still own something sharp and shiny.