ATTEMPTS to strengthen control on knives through banning their sale to under-18s have been branded as a nanny state knee-jerk reaction.
John Gollop will move an amendment to the Home Department’s proposed legislation so that the ban would affect only under-16s. He said he appreciated the spirit behind the report.
‘I agree that the law needs to be more strictly tackled and enforced, but I see this legislation as being not a priority, unnecessary in some of its detail and self-defeating because it criminalises legitimate activity by hard-working teenagers,’ said Deputy Gollop.
‘It doesn’t do anything to tackle teenagers who already do illegal things, or older people who may be unstable who buy knives.
‘I felt it was a knee-jerk reaction, nanny state, a Blairite measure outdoing Tony Blair, and although I can support some of it, like toughening marketing of combat weapons, I thought it was utterly unnecessary to restrict sales to those aged between 16 and 18.’
He backed 16 because it was the school leaving age, it was 16 in the UK and there was less of a problem in Guernsey and the States had already decided that 16-year-olds were responsible enough to vote.
The States debate begins on Wednesday.
Article posted on 25th July, 2008 - 1.00pm
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