Will the zombie knife ban affect diving?

Is it legal to buy, carry and use diving knives?

Last month, zombie-style knives and machetes were outlawed by legislation introduced for England and Wales. This was in response to rising concerns about knife crime which has shown an upward trend over the past three years.

Understandably, a move to reduce violent crime is hard to criticise. Yet of course, there are legitimate concerns for those of us who use bladed instruments that may fall into a ‘grey area’ with this ban.

Here at Narked At 90, we sell diving knives and other cutting instruments. The range of Trilobyte emergency cutting tools from Eezycut have a very safe design while providing you with the ability to repeatedly cut lines up to 8mm in thickness.

The bare bones stainless steel dive knife we sell is suited for tougher challenges. On first glance, this may well raise eyebrows. However, its blade is less than eight inches in length and the holes are confined to the handle.

What are the exemptions?

The wording of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 made it an offence to sell or own certain bladed tools, even for private possession. However, exceptions have been made for various reasons:

  • Historical importance and re-enactments
  • Sporting activities
  • Use in film, television and theatre
  • Cultural, artistic or educational display in a museum or gallery
  • Religious ceremonies

How the UK Government defines 'zombie-style' knives

Here is specific wording taken from The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment, Surrender and Compensation) Order 2024 published this July.

The weapon sometimes known as a ‘zombie-style’ knife or ‘zombie-style’ machete, being a bladed article with:

  1. a plain cutting edge;
  2. a sharp pointed end; and
  3. a blade of over eight inches in length (the length of the blade being the straight-line distance from the top of the handle to the tip of the blade)

which also has one or more of the following features, the specified features are:

  • a serrated cutting edge (other than a serrated cutting edge of up to two inches next to the handle);
  • more than one hole in the blade;
  • spikes;
  • more than two sharp points in the blade other than —
  1. a sharp point where the angle between the edges which create the point is an angle of at least 90 degrees (where there is a curved edge, the angle will be measured by reference to the tangent of the curve);
  2. a sharp point on the cutting edge of the blade near the handle.

It could be considered that a knife that matches all of the first three specifications and also matches at least one of the bullet points, will be regarded as a zombie knife.

There is a specific paragraph in the 2024 order which may cover diving activities:

“…possession is for the purposes only of making the weapon available for, or participating in, a permitted activity – i.e., a historical reenactment or sporting activity;”

While scuba diving isn’t specifically mentioned as a permitted purpose, there could be an argument that it may fall under ‘sporting’ activity. Of course, common sense should always be the priority here. We suspect that if it’s very evident that you’re a diver and have a bladed article in a collection of diving equipment, then you have a reasonable excuse not to be considered a thug!

Finally, some words of caution to take in. This is a blog from a seller and producer of diving equipment and it is not a substitute for professional legal advice.