The reason why the Ministry of Public Security proposed knives as primitive weapons

Consecutive cases of young people parading "pig launchers" on the streets

On April 17, Ninh Binh City Police (Ninh Binh Province) summoned 29 teenagers to clarify their behavior of carrying "pig-stabbing" knives, swerving on motorbikes, causing chaos on the streets, and disturbing public order.

Previously, at around 0:30 on April 14, Task Force 161 of Ninh Binh City Police discovered a group of teenagers driving motorbikes at high speed, weaving, swinging, holding "pig-throwing" knives, beer bottles... moving on the road.

Through verification, the police agency summoned and worked with 29 teenagers from 14 to 19 years old related to the incident (of which 28 people lived in Ninh Binh, 1 person lived in Nam Dinh). At the same time, the functional force also seized 10 motorbikes, 12 pig-stabbing knives, 2 knives, 1 safe containing 4 beer bottles.

A month ago, in Hanoi, a group of teenagers carrying "pig-stabbing" knives also appeared to rob property.

According to the Criminal Police Department of Hanoi City Police, the unit coordinated with functional forces to arrest 6 teenagers including: LGV, PCĐ., CNHTS, LTT (all born in 2009) and D.TK, TGB (all born in 2008), to investigate the act of robbery.

According to the investigation, the subjects used a 2-meter-long "pig-stabbing" knife to threaten, beat and then rob the Wave Alpha motorbikes of Mr. NQM and N.D.C. (both residing in Ung Hoa). In addition, this group also confessed to having committed 3 robberies with other accomplices in the districts of Ha Dong and Dong Da.

Previously, on February 18, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police discovered and promptly stopped a group of teenagers carrying "pig-slaughtering" knives, beer bottles, glass cups... on the street, showing signs of disturbing public order.

Proposal to add knives to the list of primitive weapons for management

Regarding this issue, in the draft Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosives and Supporting Tools, the Ministry of Public Security proposed to define knives as primitive weapons because of their high lethality.

A representative of the Ministry of Public Security said that in the past 5 years, the whole country discovered 28,715 cases, arresting 48,987 suspects illegally using weapons, explosives, supporting tools, knives and knife-like devices. Of these, the number of cases using knives and knife-like devices accounted for 58.6%, rudimentary weapons accounted for 29.7%, and homemade guns accounted for 6.2%.

Notably, the rate of crimes involving knives is very high. Many suspects used sharp, highly lethal knives (cleavers, machetes, machetes, etc.) to kill people in a very brutal manner.

The representative of the Ministry of Public Security also said that knives are always available in daily life to serve labor, production, living, etc. When conflicts arise, many people are ready to use knives to attack. However, because the current law does not define knives as weapons, the act of using knives is only handled when the suspect commits a criminal offense (murder, robbery, intentional injury, etc.), it cannot be handled in the direction of illegal possession and use of weapons.

"In reality, there is also a situation where many teenagers use knives with iron handles (pig-stabbing knives) about 1.5-2m long to parade around and commit crimes, seriously threatening the security and order of the people," said a representative of the Ministry of Public Security.

Therefore, regulating knives in the group of primitive weapons is one of the ways to manage and regulate the behavior of knife users. On that basis, limit the use of these tools and means to resist law enforcement officers as well as threaten the security and safety of others.

Also according to the representative of the Ministry of Public Security, a highly lethal knife is defined as a sharp knife, a pointed knife, a pointed knife, with a blade length of 20cm or more, or a knife with a blade length of less than 20cm but converted or assembled to have the same function and effect as a highly lethal knife.

The Ministry of Public Security also proposed a number of additional prohibited acts such as: Researching, manufacturing, producing, trading, exporting, importing, storing, transporting, illegally using, and appropriating primitive weapons except knives with high lethality for use in labor, production, and daily life.