I think you make an excellent point Vicky.

That’s funny you think Americans made all those hilarious comments - cos I was just thinking -Brits are just so witty ….

Am American, can confirm that this is exactly the kind of humor I expect. Though, to be fair, we know nothing about how serious knife (or sword) crime is in Europe. (Please, spare me the comments about 'because of [insert awful thing here] in your country right??')

Sorru, cut off, no more routine than the acid or knife attacks we hear about on the news out of the UK

But why say that unless you are sure, dont you think it a bit prejudiced to assume it was Americans? And gun crimes are NOT routine in America, no more than

Exactly. They had it in the car and no doubt intended something unpleasant. Collectors don't tend to keep them in cars! This sword also looks rather unlikely to end up on display.

Hmm. Collectors items slash people up just the same as non collectors items. I understand genuine collectors, as I am one myself, but I would be happy to relinquish my pashion if it saved lives. Hard, in't it?

It is a sword. The police got a lot closer to it than you and they said it is a sword. It also looks like a sword. It has a blade. It is hard to tell how sharp from the photo. It doesn't look like a bar of metal at all, bars tending to be block shaped and have nothing sharp about them. The axe shaft, if intended for use as a weapon, could end up being treated similarly and the person possibly arrested. In the UK it is about intent as well.

It's legal to own swords but it's not legal to carry them in public 'without reasonable excuse'. In the UK on April 6th 2008 a further law came into effect banning samurai and other curved swords with a blade length of 50cm or more, there are some exceptions for registered martial artists, re-enactors and even certain genuine Japanese swords. There were no good intentions here on the part of the people who had the sword illegally.

They took it from a search of a vehicle, not a display cabinet. It wasn't in the car for good reasons.