Politicians rarely avoid publicizing the signing of a new law or ordinance into law unless they are embarrassed or don’t want to draw attention to an otherwise stupid new regulation. No surprise then that Boston Mayor Tom Menino signed into law “An Ordinance Providing for the Licensing of Stores That Sell Certain Knives” with absolutely no fanfare, no publicity and no public announcement.

     It is a disappointing, if not entirely unexpected, conclusion to this sordid, and likely ineffective, effort to restrict knife sales to youths. “We remain opposed to any and all such regulations that in any way restrict a citizens’ access to perfectly legal tools,” Knife Rights stated in its e-mail newsletter.

     This should serve as a warning to those who don’t believe it can happen “over here.” Knives are heavily regulated in Europe and those opposed to individual liberty are clearly aiming to expand these restrictions to U.S. shores. Licensing knife retailers is just one strategy that can be used and then abused.
      While it is easy enough to make excuses for Boston based on its left-leaning political climate, let’s not forget that many bad laws spread widely after just such an inauspicious start. The much reviled Federal Switchblade Act started out in just this way, at a local and state level. Just because it is stupid and unjust doesn’t mean that politicians won’t do it!

     The preceding was gleaned from the Knife Rights e-mail newsletter. For more info, contact http://kniferights.org/

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