No More Sword Dance?

This is the email I wrote to Jonathan Batt regarding how the Sword Ban in the UK is affecting bellydancers (and other folk dancers)

Dear Mr Batt

I'm writing to express my concern about the sword ban in the UK. I understand from one of my fellow bellydancers that although martial arts groups and historical re-enactors are exempted from the ban, folk-dance (including bellydancers) are not.

There is a small group of us at my local bellydance class who are interested in learning this traditional dance form. I know there are many others throughout the country in a similar position, as well as those who currently practice this form of dance. If we cannot purchase practice swords, we cannot learn this form of dance. How can current practitioners continue to perform if their sword needs replacing? How does the ban affect traditional Scottish sabre dancers, for instance?

Please can traditional folk dance forms using swords/sabres etc be exempted from the ban along with martial artists and re-enactors. It would be a tragedy if traditional cultural dance forms were to be lost due to this ban.

Yours sincerely

Sara Smith


This is his reply:

Dear Ms Smith

Thank you for your recent email regarding the ban on swords with a curved blade of over 50 centimetres and the effect of this on belly dancing.

The Government has now banned the sale, hire, manufacture and import ofsamurai swords, through a ban on all swords with a curved blade of 50cm or over in length, due to their use in violent crime. The ban came into force on 6 April 2008 having received Parliamentary approval following debates in the Commons and the Lords which unanimously supported the ban. It isimportant to note that legislation already exists that bans the possessionof these weapons in a public place, and that it will be permissible for those who already own swords which fit the definition to retain ownership.

As you may be aware the ban follows on from a Government consultation paper published on 5 March 2007 which detailed proposals to ban samurai swords andgave a 12-week window for people to let us have their views. The closing date for the consultation was 28 May 2007. In terms of the ban going too wide in picking up all curved swords, the Government thinks this is proportionate in order to ensure that we have a definition that is enforceable and which has a real impact in terms of reducing the availability of items that have and can be used in violent crime.

The proposed ban is about protecting people and communities and it is important to have a definition that minimises the need for subjective interpretation. In banning such swords, the Government has sought to safeguard legitimate use by including defences in the Offensive Weapons Order for collectors of genuine Japanese swords, for those who partake in historical re-enactmentsand for swords used by martial arts enthusiasts. Regarding adding extra defencesfor groups such as belly dancers who consider their legitimate use of curved swords has been unfairly targeted by the definition, there is a risk that by creating too many defences it makes any ban unenforceable by police, customs and the courts. However, we will, of course, listen to and consider representations from such groups. Please find the link below to the summary of responses paper and subsequent Order laid before Parliament.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2007-ban-offensive-weapons/
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/pdf/uksi_20080973_en.pdf

We do not propose, at present, to add any other articles to the Offensive Weapons Order, although policy on offensive weapons is constantly kept under review.

Regards

Jonathan Batt
Public Order and Offensives Weapons section
Public Order Unit
020 7035 1807


My goodness! I don't need a lupine sense of smell - you can get a whiff of that bullshit from two miles off at least! Surely a straight blade is just as deadly a weapon as a curved one. What about a curved blade of 47 cm? Can the public even be trusted with knives at all? Why not ban metal cutlery and have us use wooden spoons. Oh, no, but that would make blunt instruments available to the general public for any amount of nefarious purposes. Wtf?

What kind of impact is this ban actually going to have on the amount of violent crime involving edged weapons anyway? Probably very little. Criminals will just have to obtain them illegally, just like they do with firearms. It might make them a little harder and more expensive to get hold of, but the criminals will still find ways of obtaining weapons. All it does is restrict the freedoms of ordinary law-abiding people still further.