Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007
The Scottish Government are proposing to introduce a new licensing scheme for dealers of knives. The proposals are a key part of the Government’s reform of knife crime law and are a vital component of a wider package of measures designed to tackle knife crime and violence more generally.
The new scheme would mean that dealers of non-domestic knives would need to be licensed by the local authority and comply with certain mandatory conditions set by the Government.
It is proposed that all licenses will include conditions that set out what records must be kept by the dealer and how articles must be stored and displayed. In particular, this will include records of how a customer’s age and identity were verified and full descriptions of knives sold. It will also be a mandatory condition that articles should not be displayed so that they are visible from the street or in any public entrance to the premises.
Anyone seeking to buy a sword must be able to prove the intended use, for example, by producing a membership card or letter from a society with a recognised reason for using swords.
The creation of a system of knife dealer licensing is the latest in the range of measures introduced by the Scottish Government to tackle the knife carrying culture and it seeks to limit the ease of access to these dangerous weapons and prevent them falling into the wrong hands.
The Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 gave Scottish Ministers the power to introduce a licensing scheme for dealers of nondomestic knives.
The Government consultation on the proposed licensing scheme can be found at link