The BLADE Blogs

In a meeting held Sept. 8, the Boston City Council decided to take no action on a proposal to require the licensing of businesses to sell knives in the city, Knife Rights reported.

It is likely it will be some weeks before a draft ordinance on the matter is presented to the City Council as a whole.

According to the supporters of the proposed license, the action is needed as a means to address the “ever-increasing knife violence in Boston.”

The city officials attending were clearly firm in their conviction that action must be taken and that some scapegoat must be found. There were grieving parents and their genuine heart-wrenching stories of lost loved ones. Public safety officials offered supportive testimony for the proposal. For anyone who attended Boston’s infamous gun control hearings a decade ago, the only difference was the word “guns” was replaced with “knives.”

The testimony and statements during the hearing were eerily reminiscent of past gun control hearings. “Why would we allow any corner store to sell these dangerous weapons (knives)?” “Selling knives does not support families.” “We must do everything we can to restrict access to these dangerous weapons.” “Why would anyone need a knife with a blade more than two inches long?””Knives are fine if you need them for work, but employers should require they be left on the job.”

Anyone involved in the Second Amendment battle of the past few decades knows this is exactly how gun control efforts were initiated. To make matters worse, law enforcement officials testified that “the modern way of approaching these issues is to go after the source of the items rather than the criminals themselves.”

Representing both Knife Rights and the Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL), GOAL Executive Director Jim Wallace told the City Council to take careful and meaningful steps in addressing the problem of violent crime. “I urge the City Council to review what it is about to do and reflect on the failures of gun control,” said Wallace. “Over a decade ago I had to testify before committees in the state house with grieving families in the background. Now I sit before you a decade later with grieving families behind me again. If you proceed down this path and get it wrong again, ten years from now we will likely repeat this scene yet again.”

Wallace also reminded the council members that the stores in question are already licensed by the city, for which they pay a fee and are subject to city oversight as to their compliance with the law. Moreover, he added, there is already an ordinance on the books that makes it illegal to sell a knife with a blade two inches or longer to anyone under age 18. He reiterated that there is no need for new regulation.  

If you are a Boston citizen, here is a link to the council members’ Web pages where you can find a link to contact them and express your concern: http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/councillors