Scouts No Longer Allowed To Have Knives On Camping Trips

Scouts in the UK are no longer allowed to bring penknives on camping trips because they have been deemed too dangerous. Traditionally scouts have learned knife safety skills, using them to cut firewood or make tools. Dave Budd, a knife-maker who runs courses training Scouts about the safe use of blades wrote, "Sadly, there is now confusion about when a Scout is allowed to carry a knife. The series of high-profile fatal stabbings [has] highlighted a growing knife culture in the UK. I think it is safest to assume that knives of any sort should not be carried by anybody to a Scout meeting or camp, unless there is likely to be a specific need for one. In that case, they should be kept by the Scout leaders and handed out as required." There is no doubt that soon scouts will get rid of their tents for large sound-proof lucite containers, which will be able to protect the children from the horrors of campfire embers, bug bites and foul language.

Comments

Knives Are Tools

[beckett]

An axe, a knife, and a waterproof firestarter are the three things you need to survive in a wooded area. When i was in scouts, I learned how to survive and live when away from the comforting teat of metropolitan civilisation. I was taught that the knife and axe were essential tools, not weapons. Scouts provide unique opportunities for hetrosexual children to empower self sufficiency. By caving into a media-driven, ASBO fueled panic, UK Scouts have done a huge disservice by banning blades.

Break the "growing knife culture" by showing a generation how to use a pocket knife. What's next: kitchen knives banned from culinary schools? It makes me sad to think that MacGyver is the new Mary Whitehouse scapegoat.

note to UK Scouts: Teaching knot tying leads to bondage, teaching sharing leads to communism, and camping trips leads to underage buggery. What crusade will you champion next?