The wrong way to tackle knife crime

The Government needs to address the root causes of knives being used as weapons, not target lawfully run businesses selling knives for people involved in shooting, fishing and other countryside activities, argues Conor O’Gorman.

The Home Office has launched a consultation on a proposed licensing system for businesses and private sellers of non-domestic knives in England and Wales administered by police forces. Licences would need to be renewed every three years, with renewal fees payable on a full cost recovery basis.

BASC opposes the proposals, given concerns about the impact on the trade, especially the disproportionate burden licensing fees and paperwork would have on smaller retailers and private sellers of handmade, bespoke knives.

If the Government wants to tackle knife crime it needs to drop these proposals and address the root causes of some young people using knives as weapons.

A Local Government Association briefing for a House of Commons debate on knife crime in October 2025 stated that the rise in knife crime has been attributed to various factors, including social inequality, gang-related activities and reductions in youth services.

The report explained that young black victims aged 16 to 24 made up the majority of people killed by a knife in the ten years to 2023. In 2023-24, eight-in-ten teenage victims were killed by a knife, marking the highest percentage in a decade. Metropolitan areas, particularly London, experience higher rates of knife crime.

Completely disingenuous

It was highlighted that kitchen knives are the most used weapons in homicides involving sharp instruments, yet these are not in scope of the proposed licensing system.

Targeting lawfully run businesses selling knives for people involved in shooting, fishing and other countryside activities with a licensing system “to save lives” is completely disingenuous and an affront to the myriad charities and bodies seeking government funding and resources to mitigate the real reasons for the rise in knife crime.

Furthermore, given the current state of firearms licensing the last thing the trade needs is yet more costly red tape managed ineffectively and inconsistently by 43 separate police forces in England and Wales.

The consultation documentation asserts that “the best body to administer the licensing system for knife and bladed article sellers is the police” and that “the police have the relevant experience of running the firearms licensing scheme for Registered Firearms Dealers and can carry out the relevant suitability checks”.

It is incredible that the Home Office could even conceive of such an approach, not least when in Scotland there is a knife sale licensing system already in place administered by local authorities.

Respond to the consultation

The consultation runs until 24 February and if you are impacted I would encourage you to email your response to KnifeLicensingConsultation@homeoffice.gov.uk making it clear that you oppose the licensing proposals.

Sending your response by email would be preferable to using the online survey response form because some of the questions are skewed and your answers could be interpreted as supporting the licensing proposals.

Please copy me in on your responses at conor.ogorman@basc.org.uk so that we can see the arguments being made and if you need advice on responding we would be happy to help.

Click here to read the consultation.