Streets no place for knives

January 19th, 2009

This is an important week at the Scottish Parliament for the Damian’s Law campaign.

The issue is whether it should be mandatory for those caught carrying or using knives to be given a prison sentence.

It is a campaign that originated here in Inverclyde and is now gone all the way to a debate in the Parliament, sponsored by the petitions committee.

John Muir, whose son was killed by a knifeman, has been the man who has driven this issue and forced this debate through his bravery and tenacity.

It is a campaign that has gathered widespread support from the public and the media, including the Greenock Telegraph.

It was also backed by the 15,000 people, many of them local, who signed his petition before John handed it into to the Parliament.

And now the country’s top legal experts, police chiefs and politicians with other interested groups will be asked to give their views on mandatory sentences for knife users.

It is my hope that this momentum is maintained until the day it forces a change in the law that recognises there is no place in society for people who carry and use knives.

While it is a long and hard process from the creation of the petition to the law being changed, I am proud that this path is open to people like John Muir and I look forward to his address to the chamber.

It is a fantastic effort by all those people involved to get this far.

But I am sure they won’t be satisfied until their campaign is ultimately successful.

And that will be when we are assured that those dangerous people who think it is acceptable to carry and use knives are locked up.