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Zombie knife ban 'step in right direction' - teens

BBC Three teenage boys - Roman Shance, Kartel Forde and Shaelon - sitting on a blue sofa each wearing black trousers and jackets. Two of the boys are wearing hatsBBC
Roman Shance, Kartel Forde and Shaelon (l-r) said the ban will help "reduce knife crime"

Banning zombie knives and machetes is a "step in the right direction" but will not end the problem, three teenagers have said.

Kartel Forde and Roman Shance, both 18, and 13-year-old Shaelon, all from Berkshire, said banning these weapons would help "reduce knife crime".

New legislation closes a legal loophole and makes it an imprisonable offence to own, make, transport or sell a wide range of what are called “statement” knives.

The government said its “young futures programme will bring local services together to deliver support for young people in their communities.”

Zombie-style knives and machetes are defined as weapons with blades over eight inches (20cm) in length, normally with a serrated cutting edge.

The number of recorded crimes that mention machetes, swords or zombie knives has almost doubled in five years, according to figures obtained using Freedom of Information requests.

Mr Forde smiling at the camera, wearing white shirt, black jacket and a baseball cap.
Mr Forde said knives were currently "just day-to-day life”

“You can’t really go five minutes without seeing someone carrying a knife," Mr Forde said.

“If someone showed me a knife in the street I wouldn’t act surprised, I wouldn’t be shocked, it’s just day-to-day life.”

He said "no-one really thinks of consequences” because of the way prison is portrayed online.

He added he thought the ban was "a step in the right direction and it will help reduce knife crime but it will never end, just like selling drugs".

Mr Shance smiling at the camera, wearing a black rainproof jacket, hoodie and a black beanie hat
Mr Shance said was "stupid" how easy it had been to get a zombie knife online

Mr Shance said when a child grows up with knives in their neighbourhood they "normalise using knives" and "aren't scared" if friends and other people around them carry them.

"The fact you can buy [knives] online, it’s stupid, that’s crazy," he said.

"A lot of kids don’t know what they are signing up for."

Shaelon smiling at the camera, wearing a black waterproof jacket
Shaelon admitted "they never going to stop zombie knives" despite the ban

Shaelon said: “Youth clubs and football teams give youths something to do and focus on, other than knives and drugs”

He continued: “They're never going to stop zombie knives from getting into the world again, into the hands of people using it in the wrong way.”

The three teenagers said the zombie knife ban would reduce knife crime but said the government should also invest more in youths to "target the problem from the root".

The Home Office said the “surrender scheme will mean tens of thousand of these weapons won’t get into the wrong hands" and was one part of a plan to halve crime within a decade.

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