Are XL Bullies more dangerous than zombie knives? Reasons why government can and must act quickly

In 2016 the government saw the introduction of zombie knives and, in an attempt to prevent knife crime, they banned the sale, manufacture, rental or importation of knives often referred to as ‘zombie knives’, ‘zombie killer knives’ and ‘zombie slayer knives’ by amending the Criminal Justice Act 1988. However, due to the explicit way the amendment was written, a loophole was created.

The loophole meant that the ban did not include zombie knives that did not promote violence or death and were not called ‘zombie knives’, ‘zombie killer knives’ and ‘zombie slayer knives’.

In August 2023, Rishi Sunak decided to make a small stand against knife crime by totally banning machetes and zombie knives. Unfortunately, nothing has been finalised by Parliament.

What is the big hold up? Is knife crime not dangerous enough? I'd like you to think about how 'dangerous' an issue needs to be for the government to take action.

In September 23, Rishi Sunak announced the ban of XL bullies. This is a breed that has been labelled 'dangerous' but has not been included in any records before 2020.

From 2020 to 2023, there have been 30 deaths by dogs and 11 are said to be from XL Bullies. This was enough to deem them dangerous and from the end of 2023, XL Bullies were put on the Dangers Dogs Act 1991. This change was announced and implemented in just four months.

Since 2020, there have been 842 deaths due to knife crime and we are yet to hear when Rishi Sunak plans to implement the total ban on machetes and zombie knives.

What do the people think? Well, a petition for the ban of such blades was created by Pooja Kanda and it received 10,485 signatures. Despite extensive research I can not find any petitions against this ban. This surely proves that the public support the ban alongside the many anti- knife crime community groups and charities.

In comparison a petition to ban XL Bullies called ‘Bad owners are to blame not the breed - don't ban the XL bully’ received 618,543 signatures. While a petition to 'Make XL Bully a banned dog breed in the Dangerous Dogs Act' only received 28,957 signatures. There was a massive 2,036 per cent difference in the number of people against the change and yet despite this, the ban was still imposed.

It’s clear, that what people want and what the beliefs they demonstrate via petitions is not taken into account when Rishi Sunak decides what the public think is 'dangerous’.

The government has it within their power to make swift and effective changes when it comes to issues that they deem as dangerous. Since 2014 there have been at least 1,853 reasons. So how many lives need to be destroyed senselessly before the knife crime epidemic is given the attention that it requires?