“I NEED WIDER POWERS!” Knife-Control Debate Heats Up in the UK amid London Murder Spike.

Murders in the city have increased over the past year, and criminal knife use has been identified as a major contributing factor. Both gun crime and knife crime saw dramatic increases between fiscal year 2015/2016 and fiscal year 2016/2017, according to statistics released by the Metropolitan Police. Knife crime saw a 24 percent increase with a 20.5 percent increase in stabbings. Gun crime saw a 42 percent increase with a 57 percent increase in armed robberies.

The police have been actively engaged in anti-knife crime Operation Sceptre since July 2015. The operation has resulted in “2,294 arrests, 473 of which were for possession of a knife or weapon and the recovery and removal of 1,435 weapons from the streets of London” using a combination of weapons sweeps and sting tactics, police say. The operation is also partnering with a local charity on a drive to get people to anonymously turn in their knives at police stations or at 30 knife surrender bins located throughout London.

“You might be carrying a knife as you are worried that someone is after you and you might want to protect yourself,” Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Duthie said in a public letter. “But that is not the way to go about it.”

Banning guns didn’t work, so they’re going after knives — what will they ban when the knife-ban fails?