shuriken?

ElSeano93

well, i want to know are they legal, and legal to import. since im a 14 year old my dad is buying me a set from england off ebay. he knows i'm very trusted, i have a bow, 2 sets of nunchaku and a katana and have never used them for anything else but fun and never to do bad, that's what my bare hands are for .so please enlighten me on the shuriken ''thang'' if you will.

ColinJennings

***THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE***

FIREARMS AND OFFENSIVE WEAPONS ACT, 1990 - Section 9 wrote:

(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), where a person has with him in any public place any knife or any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed, he shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that he had good reason or lawful authority for having the article with him in a public place.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), it shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (1) to prove that he had the article with him for use at work or for a recreational purpose.

Ok lets explain...
Sub-section 1 says that to have a shuriken in public is an offence. So having it at home is lawful. I'm not sure about importing it

Sub-section 2 says that if you have it for a lawful purpose... and because it looks cool is not.

Sub-section 3 says that you can have it for recreation... but that generally refers to things like knives for cutting carpets.

So basically it is only an offence to have it in public. You must proove that you have it either for a lawful purpose or for work or for recreation. You might get away with the recreation excuse, but simply don't carry them around is the best advice.

HammerHeadGym

Hey Sean,
I've been involved in a martial art that uses shuriken for some years and one of the members is a cop, he explained the above laws like this

Sub-section 1 says that to have a shuriken in public is an offence. This refers to having it 'out' in public.

Sub-section 2 says that if you have it for a lawful purpose... and because it looks cool is not. Having it for a sport is though.

Sub-section 3 says that you can have it for recreation... but that generally refers to things like knives for cutting carpets. It also refers to shuriken for 'anachronistic recreation' (i.e. a traditional martial art)

So basically, you can carry them to and from your house, providing they are wrapped up, in a bag, on your back, and you are going to and from the dojo. This also goes for spears, katana, wakizashi and tanto.

I would like to point out that this is not legal advice either. As my cop friend points out, if the guy arresting you has a daughter whos eye got put out, don't expect him to be on your side.

Hope this helps, and thanks to colin for the cut and paste. Yoink

Scramble

The simple answer is that no, shuriken are not legal for your dad to import.

The FIREARMS AND OFFENSIVE WEAPONS ACT, 1990 (OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) ORDER, 1991 made it an offense to manafacture, import, sell, hire or loan a list of specific offensive weapons.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZSI66Y1991.html

Item (i) on that list are shuriken :

( i ) the weapon sometimes known as a shuriken, shaken or death star, being a hard non-flexible plate having three or more sharp radiating points and designed to be thrown;

Were someone to already own Shuriken then Section 9 of Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act would be the relevant legislation covering transporting them etc. With that said, that legislation is intended to apply to adults - workmen, sportspeople and so on.

ColinJennings

*** NOT LEGAL ADVICE ***

HammerHeadGym wrote:

Sub-section 1 says that to have a shuriken in public is an offence. This refers to having it 'out' in public.

I'm afraid that is incorrect. Having a blade in your pocket is an offence. You do not need to walk around with a knife drawn for it to be an offence. The offence is possession, not display.

Having the shuriken in your bag/pocket etc is the offence. That is all the state need to prove. It is then up to you to prove that you had it for a lawful reason.

And what scramble says on he importation is correct. It is an offence to import them, however I don't think that is very well enforced.

ElSeano93

ok, that sort of answers my question. does this law apply to katanas, nunchaku and sais?can i still import katanas and nuchuks and sais without much bother?

HammerHeadGym

ColinJennings wrote:

...Having a blade in your pocket is an offence...The offence is possession, not display...

Yeah, sorry. I should have stated that it was connected to part three, having it for recreational use, e.g. traditional MA practise. As in, it's ok to bring them to and from practise, not to a disco.

*edit- to elaborate, I would be arrested for carrying a screwdriver with me into a club, unless it was in my elictrician's tool belt. But like I said before, it's down to the cop and the judge. Justice and the law don't always meet in the middle, in this country.

ElSeano93

well in a nutshell, i want to know can i import them or not, and keep them in my home for martial arts practice.

ColinJennings

No. All of them are illigeal to import.... but the legislation is not enforced that well.

SorGan

OFFENSIVE WEAPONS
The importation of Offensive Weapons listed in S.I. No.66 1991 is totally prohibited. [Firearms and
Offensive Weapons Act, 1990 (No. 12 of 1990) and the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act, 1990
(Offensive Weapons) Order, 1991 (S.I. No. 66 of 1991)]. For the purposes of this prohibition the term
“offensive weapons” means:
(a) a flick knife, that is to say -
(i) a knife which opens when hand pressure is applied to a button, spring, lever or other device in
or attached to the handle, or
(ii) a knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity
or the application of centrifugal force and when released is locked in an open position by
means of a button, spring, lever or other device;
(b) a knuckleduster, that is to say -
(i) a band of metal or other hard material worn on one or more fingers, and designed to cause
injury, or
(ii) any weapon incorporating a knuckleduster;
(c) a swordstick or dagger cane, that is, a hollow walking-stick or cane containing a blade which
may be used as a sword or dagger;
(d) a sword umbrella, that is an umbrella containing a blade which may be used as a sword;
(e) any weapon from which one or more sharp spikes protrude which is worn attached to the
foot, ankle, hand or wrist (sometimes known when intended to be attached to the foot, as a
footclaw and, when intended to be attached to the hand, as a handclaw);
(f) the weapon sometimes known as a belt buckle knife, being a buckle which incorporates or
conceals a knife;
(g) the weapon sometimes known as a push dagger, being a knife the handle of which fits within a
clenched fist and the blade of which protrudes from between two fingers;
(h) the weapon sometimes known as a hollow kubotan, being a cylindrical container containing a
number of sharp spikes;
(i) the weapon sometimes known as a shuriken, shaken or death star, being a hard non-flexible
plate having three or more sharp radiating points, and designed to be thrown;
(j) the weapon sometimes known as a balisong or butterfly knife, being a blade enclosed by its
handle, which is designed to split down the middle, without the operation of a spring or other
mechanical means, to reveal the blade;
(k) the weapon sometimes known as a telescopic truncheon or telescopic billy, being a truncheon
which extends automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or
attached to its handle;
(l) the weapon sometimes known as a blowpipe or blow gun, being a hollow tube out of which hard
pellets or darts are shot by the use of human breath;
(m) the weapon sometimes known as a kusari gama, being a length of rope, cord wire or chain
fastened at one end to a sickle;
(n) the weapon sometimes known as a kyoketsu shoge, being a length of rope, cord, wire or chain
fastened at one end to a hooked knife;
(o) the weapon sometimes known as a manrikigusari or kusari being a length or rope, cord, wire or
chain fastened at each end to a hard weight or hand grip;
(p) the weapon sometimes known as a sap glove, being a glove into which metal or some other hard
material has been inserted or to which metal or such material has been attached;
(q) the broad knife known as a machete or matchet.

what a crock

Unpossible

Regular swords and axes dont seem to be on that list

ColinJennings

Unpossible wrote:

Regular swords and axes don't seem to be on that list

That is why you can buy an axe in any camping shop.
Swords are classified as knives or bladed weapons. Which are legal to sell/own, but not to have in public without a lawful excuse. How can you make swords illigeal and not kitchen knives?

Unpossible

How can you make swords illigeal and not kitchen knives?

well machete are illegal, maybe they could just say "blades longer than..."

I had forgotten the real reason for buying an axe guess I spend too much time watching epic battles

Nothingcompares

I think there was a spat in the 1980s of scumbag butchering each other with machetes so legistlation came in that specifically banned them. It wasn't particularly well thought out.

RedXIV

most dangerous weapon?

Try getting a steel heel from a woman's boot shoved into you. had one dragged down my shin trying to get a girl out of a club once and another shot into my thigh. telling ya, should be a law against em!

Genji Shimada

HammerHeadGym wrote: »

Hey Sean,
I've been involved in a martial art that uses shuriken for some years and one of the members is a cop, he explained the above laws like this

Sub-section 1 says that to have a shuriken in public is an offence. This refers to having it 'out' in public.

Sub-section 2 says that if you have it for a lawful purpose... and because it looks cool is not. Having it for a sport is though.

Sub-section 3 says that you can have it for recreation... but that generally refers to things like knives for cutting carpets. It also refers to shuriken for 'anachronistic recreation' (i.e. a traditional martial art)

So basically, you can carry them to and from your house, providing they are wrapped up, in a bag, on your back, and you are going to and from the dojo. This also goes for spears, katana, wakizashi and tanto.

I would like to point out that this is not legal advice either. As my cop friend points out, if the guy arresting you has a daughter whos eye got put out, don't expect him to be on your side.

Hope this helps, and thanks to colin for the cut and paste. Yoink

Hi! I'm looking to buy a shuriken fidget spinner on ebay and would like to know if these laws apply to this toy. It's made of alloy, and yes, it's sharp. Only at the points. It doesn't have sharp edges, just a point. I'm not thinking on brining this out in public, just to spin and put on display.

Mellor

Genji Shimada wrote: »

Hi! I'm looking to buy a shuriken fidget spinner on ebay and would like to know if these laws apply to this toy. It's made of alloy, and yes, it's sharp. Only at the points. It doesn't have sharp edges, just a point. I'm not thinking on brining this out in public, just to spin and put on display.

It doesn't need to have sharp edges to be a shuriken. The relevant description is;

(i) the weapon sometimes known as a shuriken, shaken or death star, being a hard non-flexible plate having three or more sharp radiating points, and designed to be thrown;

If the spinner has sharp points, and could be used as a throwing star as well as a fidget spinner then it is considered one by the law.
If it was https://spinnables.com/collections/spinnable-shurikens. Then they would be fine as they are clearly just a spinner. They'd probably break if they were thrown

Grizzly 45

Go to any DIY supermarket and buy a 100% packet of legal Shuriken.They are called micro circular saw blades.The steel is 100 times better than the mild steel junk most of the martial arts shuirken are made of.They are sharper and stick better and aren't immedately associated with some sort of deadly Ninja devive.