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AIBU?

aibu to not buy my 12 year old a butterfly knife to play with?

55 replies

Wineandpopcorn · 22/04/2016 13:58

The latest trend at my 12 year olds school is a blunt butterfly knife They are used to do tricks with apparently!

I can't find much information on the Internet about the legalities, other than obviously it's illegal to carry a knife. I can't work out if a blunt butterfly knife is classed as an actual weapon though?

Obviously I am not going to buy him one, ever, and I am contacting the school to let them know that they are being used in the playground, buy doesn't anyone know anything about them? And am I right in thinking that even though they are blunt, they are still dangerous?

OP posts:

Report

Wineandpopcorn · 22/04/2016 13:59

That should say does anyone know, not doesn't!

OP posts:

MajesticSeaFlapFlap · 22/04/2016 14:00

how funny!
Ds1 (13) came home yesterday asking for one.
Apparently they are allowed in school, that made laugh, they aren't allowed metal rulers in case they are used as weapons

Wineandpopcorn · 22/04/2016 14:01

this is what they look like

aibu to not buy my 12 year old a butterfly knife to play with?

OP posts:

NeedACleverNN · 22/04/2016 14:02

I wouldn't blunt or not.

But then again I don't agree with toy guns.

It's normalising weapons

Wineandpopcorn · 22/04/2016 14:02

really majestic?! maybe I am over reacting if they are allowed?!

OP posts:

NeedsAsockamnesty · 22/04/2016 14:06

What are they used for? Tricks and stuff is not very clear

MajesticSeaFlapFlap · 22/04/2016 14:06

I don't know if they are wine, he just threw it out there in his 'everyone but me has one and the school don't mind' rant

pippistrelle · 22/04/2016 14:08

www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives

According to this, they're illegal. I think, whether it's blunt or not is irrelevant because, if it's made of metal, it could be sharpened, and could still do damage anyway.

SecretSquirrelsSecretFriend · 22/04/2016 14:09

Absolutely will not be allowed. I wouldn't. I'm also in the hating toy gun camp.

NeedACleverNN · 22/04/2016 14:09

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ydEJVMqLflE

You can do lots of flipping with a balisong aka butterfly knife

But they ARE dangerous.

Lifecanonlygetbetter · 22/04/2016 14:15

No, knives are illegal and if he gets pulled over with one he could be arrested.
I would also check with the school about their policy on these. As a former school governor I would be surprised if a school had agreed to these being on the premises, blunt or not.

OnlyTheDepthVaries · 22/04/2016 14:17

My DS15 is desperate for one- but he says it is plastic for doing tricks and practising! "Practising for what exactly?", asked I.
Suffice to say he isn't having one under any circumstances!

PaulAnkaTheDog · 22/04/2016 14:18

I would be so surprised if they were allowed in school! Surely they are still technically classed as a weapon in the school's eyes?

liz70 · 22/04/2016 14:23

Tell him to join a majorettes band if he wants to show off his twisting, flipping and twirling skills.

ConferencePear · 22/04/2016 14:24

I find it difficult to believe that they allowed in school. I would check and still not allow DS to have one.

Gatehouse77 · 22/04/2016 14:35

You can get practice ones which are not illegal. My DS has one but never took it to school. For him, it's a skill like nunchucks.

That said, he wasn't following a trend as I don't know any of his friends that have got one.

Ultimately, anything can be a weapon...

chilledwarmth · 23/04/2016 12:11

Your knife laws are pretty restrictive but I did a quick search and found a practice balisong/butterfly knife on a uk site (bladesandbows.co.uk) and found this

"The Balisong or Butterfly knife was banned in the UK under the 1988 offensive weapons act. This practice knife has a completly blunt 3mm thick safety blade with rounded tip. It is both safe to use and legal to buy as it does not have a real blade. No matter how hard you try you will not cut yourself."

It seems to be legal to buy but I'm not sure if it would be legal to carry and even if it was, I'm not sure if the school would have rules about it not being allowed on the premises.

ChemistryHunt · 23/04/2016 12:26

I wouldn't allow my child to have one blunt or not regardless of legalities.

I am fairly sure the school won't be overly keen on them and wouldn't be surprised if a ban comes into force soon. Surely for any teachers supervising a whole school ground, from afar it's not going to be easy to tell if a child has one of the blunt/trick ones or have indeed got their hands on the real thing.

VagueIdeas · 23/04/2016 12:31

Blunt or not, I totally agree that it's normalising and glorifying knives. No way would I encourage that.

chilledwarmth · 23/04/2016 12:50

Knives have been a normal part of our society since the time when man learned to sharpen rocks to get a pointy bit on them. It would be really hard to eat the steak i had last night without a knife to cut it. Glorifying knives? Not sure how that works, nor what it means.

ValancyJane · 23/04/2016 13:37

No way in hell would any school know about these and have not banned them. If he says school doesn't mind it's because they haven't seen them!!

thatorchidmoment · 23/04/2016 15:29

Six months ago, a teenage boy was killed in a tussle at his school when the other boy pulled out a knife. Turns out, he had been buying and carrying knives and other weapons such as knuckledusters for some time to look cool in front of the other kids at school.
I know this is not the same sort of knife, but it is a weapon, and it is presumably obtained to show off to the others. It's not acceptable in my eyes, and I suspect any teachers would take a pretty dim view of it if they knew about it. So OP, yanbu.

chilledwarmth · 23/04/2016 16:10

A butterfly knife isn't necessarily a weapon any more than your kitchen knives are weapons. And even so, this isn't even a knife as the majority of people would define it, it's deliberately designed NOT to be a knife. As for whether school children should be allowed to have knives at school, is a different argument. I probably wouldn't have any objection to a child of mine having a swiss army knife, and I certainly wouldn't mind them having one of those blunted balisongs, I know from personal experience how enjoyable it can be to practice flicking them and doing tricks. The tricks you can do once you've practiced for a bit are very visually appealing.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 23/04/2016 16:12

My DS used to have them a couple of years ago when he was 12/13. At 15 he's grown out of it.

I don't see a problem at all.

VagueIdeas · 23/04/2016 17:21

Glorifying knives? Not sure how that works, nor what it means.

It's simple. Glorifying knives as in thinking they look cool. Performing tricks with knives. Kudos associated with owning a knife. Knives as protection out on the streets. I could go on.

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