Amend Section 139 to ban all public bladed article exemptions.

Rejected 9 signatures

What the petition asks

Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 allows exemptions for carrying blades in public for religious or cultural reasons. Court cases show these exemptions create loopholes used to justify carrying weapons. We need a whole ban on all public bladed articles, without exception, to protect lives.

Knife crime continues to devastate communities and tear families apart across the UK. To truly protect the public and save innocent lives, our legal system must adopt a uniform, zero-tolerance approach to weapons on our streets. Closing these existing loopholes ensures the law is clear, consistent, and leaves no room for exploitation.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign this petition, which calls for similar action: “Ban carrying religious, cultural & ceremonial bladed & pointed items in public” Ban carrying religious, cultural & ceremonial bladed & pointed items in public

Timeline

3 Jun 2026	Petition opened for signatures
18 Jun 2026	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 9

Status Rejected

Rejected 18 Jun 2026

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