PEOPLE must have a good reason if they want to carry a knife, says Home minister Geoff Mahy. A new law will make it illegal for anyone under 18 to buy one and police will have more powers to stop and search anyone suspected of carrying a blade.

The Guernsey Press first revealed the planned crackdown on knives in May and Home will ask the States to accept its recommendations at the end of this month.

Deputy Mahy said: ‘If the police suspect that someone is carrying a knife for no good reason, they have the power to search them. But if you have a good reason to carry a knife, then that is OK. For instance, if a young person is going fishing he can carry a fishing knife. He does not have to have someone over 18 with him, he just has to have an over-18 with him when he buys that knife.’

Anyone can at the moment go into a shop and buy a knife without showing ID and the new law, along with preventing that, will also stop the marketing of blades in a way that suggests they are suitable for combat or stimulate or encourage violent behaviour. ‘We do not want combat knives being sold or marketed to under-18s in Guernsey,’ Deputy Mahy said.