Blade ban: Knives best left on base to avoid breaking Japan’s new weapons law

Blade ban: Knives best left on base to avoid breaking Japan’s new weapons law
By Bryce S. Dubee, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, January 8, 2009

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — U.S. servicemembers and dependents who carry pocketknives should consider leaving them behind when they venture off base in the future. Japan’s already-strict weapons law became even more stringent this month.

A new law, a revision to the country’s Swords and Firearms Control Law, bans the possession of double-edged knives and tightens gun-ownership rules. The new law went into effect Monday.

Japan’s government enacted the revisions in response to a series of brutal crimes that took place last year throughout the country, including a shotgun shooting spree in Sasebo and a mass stabbing attack in the Akihabara area of Tokyo that killed seven.

The new law adds a ban on possession of double-edged knives such as daggers with blades longer than 2.2 inches; spears, single-edge knives and swords with blades longer than 6 inches; and switchblades that open 45 degrees or more and have blades longer than 2.2 inches.

The law also forbids the possession and use of knives as weapons, but exemptions are made for knives used for cooking, fishing and other utilitarian purposes, and for people who have appropriate authorization, such as for use in competitive sports.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59845