The policing minister has unveiled a new bill hoping to crack down on the sale of knives, particularly online. Dame Diana Johnson announced raft of anti-knife crime plans, including making retailers report bulk or suspicious sales to police, and increasing the jail sentence for selling weapons to children or illegal blades such as zombie knives, to two years. The laws will collectively be known as 'Ronan's Law', named after 16-year-old Ronan Kanda who was murdered in Wolverhampton in 2022.
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00:00So this package of measures that we're introducing today, we're calling Ronan's Law
00:05because this is after the horrific case of the killing of Ronan Kander in 2022
00:12where he was attacked with a ninja sword by a 16-year-old
00:16who'd been able to buy that online by using false ID and information
00:21and it hadn't been checked when he'd gone to the post office to collect it.
00:24So these are some measures to deal with that.
00:27For example, the purchase of bulk or suspicious purchases, that has to be reported to the police.
00:33In the Ronan Kander case, that individual had bought 25 deadly weapons from online
00:39and there had been no check, so that's the first thing.
00:42Secondly, we want to increase the sentencing for those who sell knives to under-18s
00:47from six months to two years.
00:49We're setting up a new police unit with additional funding
00:52to coordinate that work around online sales of knives.
00:56We're also setting up a new offence around having a weapon with intent, if you carry a knife.
01:03And we're going to consider having a licensing regime for retailers,
01:07so there has to be, just as there is for selling alcohol or fireworks or firearms,
01:12a regime so you have responsible retailers and people involved in the sale of knives.
01:17One of the problems is the data, and Commander Clayman, who's the National Police Chief Leader,
01:22has done a review around online sales
01:24and one of the points he makes in his report is the lack of data
01:28because it's not currently recorded as to exactly what the knife is or where it's come from.
01:34So that's one of the other important things we need to look at,
01:37making sure that we've got information about where knives are being used.
01:41Are they domestic knives from the kitchen drawer or are they knives that are brought online?
01:45We know that that's something that needs work on.