Comments by "Tony L" (@tlangdon12) on "Good Reason to Carry a Knife - a Real Case | BlackBeltBarrister" video.

@mythoughts7722 You have have had some good advice. The lesson here is that we are all assumed to know that the law prohibits things like machetes in public without good reason, so when choosing a tool for a job, take the least prohibited tool you can. Only take the machete when it is the only tool for the job and clearly justifiable!
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Good advice. Chefs might want to have a lockable box for their set of Sabatier knives.
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I understand your logic, but the judge can only apply the law as it written, and if the defence requires a “good” reason (and not just a reason) then someone has to decide what is “good”. I can see why you think the judge overstepped the mark in deciding that they had the authority to decide, but harm is harm and it was the judge’s view that harm can never be good. The appeal court agreed.
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That a legal knife would be adequate for self-harming is a good point, and I personally thing the prosecution was in the public interest.
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Not if the vehicle is in a public place. If it is on private land then inside the vehicle is also a private place.
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I understand your argument and tend to agree with it, but I can also see how the CPS would think that prosecuting the chap would be in the public interest because we don’t want mentally unstable people from having large, sharp knives with them in public. I can see the judge’s logic that harming yourself is not a good thing to do, but in making that determination they seem to be saying that hurting yourself is not a fundamental human right. I don’t know what the law says about self harm being a human right but I wonder if this decision by the judge was in line with it? It the matter had been decided by the jury, I think he would have still been convicted, unless he could have shown that he was travelling to somewhere to self-harm, e.g. he was on his way home immediately after buying the knife.
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In theory, yes, but in practice you would have to show you were an adherent of an organised religion, that the historic customs and practises of the religion required the dodgy knife, and that you were travelling to and from a religious event. I think Satan worshipers might be able to make a case for needing a long enough knife to sacrifice a goat, but any religious event would only need one to have such a knife present - this would perhaps be carried by the high priest. As you have spotted, you don’t need a good reason in law to carry a dodgy knife if you have a valid religious reason!
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In a perfect world, his solicitor would have spotted the potential for his good reason to be ruled out by the judge and cautioned about the risk of using that defence - perhaps they did and the client went ahead with it anyway?
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Inside a car is regarded as a public place when the car is not on private land. You would have had a lawful reason for having the steak knife if your were on your way to or from a job, e.g. your were a mobile mechanic and you were stopped during the working day. But not if you were an ordinary motorist, or stopped at the weekend or at night. If you were in a van, the answer would be different again (a car is not a normal working vehicle for a mobile motor mechanic).
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