UK to ban ninja swords amid knife crime ‘crisis’

United Kingdom Possessing a ninja sword is to be banned in the UK and carry a penalty of up to six months in jail, the British government said yesterday, in a bid to curb what it has called a “national” knife crime “crisis”. The Home Office said most ninja swords had a blade of between 14 and 24 inches (36 and 61 centimetres), with one straight cutting edge and a tanto style -- or sharply-angled -- tip. From August 1, anyone caught in possession of a ninja sword in private could face six months in prison. That is set to rise to two years under forthcoming legislation.

There is already a penalty of up to four years in prison for carrying any weapon in public. T h e n i n j a sword ban is the final part of the socalled Ronan’s law, a raft of anti-knife crime measures introduced in parliament last month as part of the government’s crime and policing bill. The measures include making retailers report bulk or suspicious sales to police and a rise in jail terms to two years for selling weapons to children.

The law is named after teenager Ronan Kanda, who was murdered with a ninja sword in 2022 by two other teenagers in a case of mistaken identity. T h e ninja sword m o v e follows a ban on “zombie” type knives and machetes introduced in September 2024. Under that measure, knives with a blade more than eight inches long and those with a serrated cutting edge, which are often used by gangs, were banned.