On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:10:57 -0800, "SteveB"
wrote:


Get rid of guns? What would be next? Books?

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LONDON (Reuters) - The government said Wednesday it would ban the sale
of samurai swords because the weapons had been used in a number of
serious, high-profile attacks.

The Home Office said the swords would be added to the Offensive
Weapons Order from April next year, meaning they could not be
imported, sold or hired.

However collectors of genuine Japanese swords and those used by
martial arts enthusiasts would be exempt from the ban.

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"In the wrong hands, samurai swords are dangerous weapons," Home
Office Minister Vernon Coaker said.

In 2000, Robert Ashman murdered a Liberal Democrat councilor at the
offices of Cheltenham MP Nigel Jones, who was also seriously hurt in
the attack.

A year earlier, Eden Strang seriously wounded 11 people when he went
on the rampage with a samurai sword at a Roman Catholic Church near
his home in Thornton Heath, south London.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Tim Castle)




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http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...19327520071214