Big Evatt bust

Antagonist said :

Thanks Pollushon. That did nothing to clear that up. I have a ‘large’ number of knives that I had better dispose of quickly. Like my chefs knives, boning knives, bread knives, carving knives, cleavers, slicing knives, filleting knives and a santoku. But alas, nothing that might resemble a machete or a sword. Do we know where the legal line is drawn?

The line is really drawn at the point where the officer looks at the person, the weapon and the circumstance/situation. If you arent a peanut and you have a machete with a handguard but you are not doing anything peanutty with it and you have a generally legit reason to have it (a farm or property) then chances are the police might let you keep it, but if you are in an apartment in Braddon and you wear a flanny with your tracksuit pants to draw attention away from your drug habit then you generally have no reason to possess such a device and it should be confiscated.

However,

If said individual comes from Queanbeyan and happens to fit into both catagories (eg. Wears tracksuit pants and flannelette shirt with accompanying drug habit but also lives and works on a farm) then it is up to the discretion of the attending plod.

The law is a confusing quagmire sometimes.

Pollushon said :

I guess what I was trying to say is knives designed to efficiently and specifically kill humans are illegal, it’s just logic. These are not your kitchen knives, which would be inefficient and are specifically designed for use in your kitchen. The article spoke of large knives too, not machetes or swords.

There are types of knives which are banned, including butterfly knives, flick knives, spring loaded knives, and double bladed knives – i.e. a blade on each side, as opposed to most knives which, like kitchen knives, are blunt on one side. Also, the plod take a dim view of ‘military’ style knives with specialised designs to cause maximum damage to flesh or with grooves to aid people in bleeding out whilst the knife is inserted.

Basically if the knife seems unusually nasty, and there is no need for you to have it, don’t have it.

And on a vaguely related point, people who mount samurai swords in their houses or keep them behind their doors are almost universally twats.

Antagonist said :

Thanks Pollushon. That did nothing to clear that up. I have a ‘large’ number of knives that I had better dispose of quickly. Like my chefs knives, boning knives, bread knives, carving knives, cleavers, slicing knives, filleting knives and a santoku. But alas, nothing that might resemble a machete or a sword. Do we know where the legal line is drawn?

Why would you think your kitchen knives would be illegal? Go on ditch them, report back then we can laugh at you. Someone also better tell the plod about Harris Scarfe, Kmart and Target……they sell knives.

I guess what I was trying to say is knives designed to efficiently and specifically kill humans are illegal, it’s just logic. These are not your kitchen knives, which would be inefficient and are specifically designed for use in your kitchen. The article spoke of large knives too, not machetes or swords.

It’s also possible that the knives were suspected to have been used in other criminal activity like hold-ups.

In addition to flick knives etc mentioned @#2, I believe the list of prohibited weapons include certain types of daggers, trench knives and anything with built in knuckle dusters.

I was going to ponder about the firearm these clowns appear to have chosen, but then I remembered that a couple of young dickheads robbed a northside suburban grocery store (in Hacket??) a year or so ago while armed with a .303.

I guess if you’re a miserable rotten scumbag drug dealer, you’ll arm yourself with whatever you can find. I shudder to think of what might might happen to innocent bystanders if someone opened up with one of those guns in a suburban street

I think they might be normally legal knives that Plod thought relevant under the circumstances, possibly as evidence vaguely relevant to the stolen car, illegal drugs and firearms or because they weren’t stored in a manner consistent with their usual purpose.

I have no fear of police raiding my kitchen to confiscate my kitchen knives or the boy’s fishing knife but then it might be a different matter if they were being stored in my jacket pocket or if I had any drugs, stolen goods or weapons.

Thanks Pollushon. That did nothing to clear that up. I have a ‘large’ number of knives that I had better dispose of quickly. Like my chefs knives, boning knives, bread knives, carving knives, cleavers, slicing knives, filleting knives and a santoku. But alas, nothing that might resemble a machete or a sword. Do we know where the legal line is drawn?

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

More great work by the plod, but, um, is it illegal to have large knives? I may or may not have very large knives. Anyone know the exact laws?

Aside from gravity/automatic/switchblade mechanisms, being over 18 and purposely concealing a knife, the laws are more about context and location with a touch of plod discretion. Customs are random and somewhat nonsensical in how they deal with imports. That said, all states/territories do have their own laws, but along these lines.

I have a pretty large collection of metal which I use when I go on walkabout up north (where every bit of nature is out to kill you, so it’s a fair playing ground and you have to make your own fire). Never had an issue, never carry them on my person in urban or public areas, store them away in vehicle transport and always declare them on flights, so my stuff gets put with the cabin crew luggage and I have to wait a touch longer for my suitcase.

So yeah, with the above article I’d say the plod saw “a number of large knives” as a bit of an issue 🙂

More great work by the plod, but, um, is it illegal to have large knives? I may or may not have very large knives. Anyone know the exact laws?