End of sword collecting in the UK

Mefidk · 9th September 2009, 07:37 AM

Just following up on the legal consequences in Denmark of carrying a knife. Just recently a man was stopped by police here for a routine check and it was found that he had two hobby knives in the back of his car. These knives were used at work to open cardboard boxes and he had forgotten that they were there. This is very easy to do, I know my wife often comes home with one of these in her pocket because she has been opening boxes last thing before the shop shuts and forgets she has put a knife in her pocket.
For the man with the hobby knife in his car the consequences were to my mind ludicrously serious. Not only did he receive a fine and a criminal record, he was also sentenced to one week in prison.
I do not believe there was any doubt about the truthfulness of the man's claims, nor was he acting in any anti-social manner. So he was just unlucky and fell foul of similar poorly thought through legislation to that we see from the UK.

Collectors here can (I believe) still transport weapons to and from meetings if they have a license, but it is getting very difficult to obtain weapons any other way. The argument from the postal services is that their staff do not have these weapons licenses so they cannot legally carry swords or knives. Some couriers do still carry weapons but this is expensive and those that specialise in this are very expensive indeed. This begins to make it very difficult for collectors on a limited budget. This is especially difficult for ethnographic weapons since there precious few of these knocking around at the weapons fairs I've been to here in DK, so almost all of my purchases come from abroad and need to be carried by post or courier!

All in all this is beginning to feel like a difficult hobby to pursue in Denmark

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9th September 2009, 07:37 AM	#18
Mefidk Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Denmark Posts: 157	Just following up on the legal consequences in Denmark of carrying a knife. Just recently a man was stopped by police here for a routine check and it was found that he had two hobby knives in the back of his car. These knives were used at work to open cardboard boxes and he had forgotten that they were there. This is very easy to do, I know my wife often comes home with one of these in her pocket because she has been opening boxes last thing before the shop shuts and forgets she has put a knife in her pocket. For the man with the hobby knife in his car the consequences were to my mind ludicrously serious. Not only did he receive a fine and a criminal record, he was also sentenced to one week in prison. I do not believe there was any doubt about the truthfulness of the man's claims, nor was he acting in any anti-social manner. So he was just unlucky and fell foul of similar poorly thought through legislation to that we see from the UK. Collectors here can (I believe) still transport weapons to and from meetings if they have a license, but it is getting very difficult to obtain weapons any other way. The argument from the postal services is that their staff do not have these weapons licenses so they cannot legally carry swords or knives. Some couriers do still carry weapons but this is expensive and those that specialise in this are very expensive indeed. This begins to make it very difficult for collectors on a limited budget. This is especially difficult for ethnographic weapons since there precious few of these knocking around at the weapons fairs I've been to here in DK, so almost all of my purchases come from abroad and need to be carried by post or courier! All in all this is beginning to feel like a difficult hobby to pursue in Denmark