Cathál MacPartholán provides a brief review of new laws on offensive weapons in private places
Section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 states: ‘Any person who without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, the proof whereof shall lie on him, has with him in any public place any offensive weapon shall be guilty of an offence…’. A reasonable and uncomplicated assertation. But, some chief constables, politicians and legal academics argue the PCA 1953 to have been the main driving force to the upsurge in violent crime, as inadequate legislation. The critics’ exegesis suggested, to curb knife crime, a new production of criminal legislation was required and this would lance the problem. In essence, the PCA 1953 and Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 (ROWA 1959) required a new visceral intensity &nda...
A new offence of possessing an offensive weapon in private (ie your own home) was introduced by the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (Commencement No 1) Regulations 2021
