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The Father of a son's friend keeps a samurai style swordI thought these had been banned in the UK. He's probably breaking the law just by owning it.
Don't say that. I have my brother in laws stuff in the loft and there a samurai sword and a viking sword in there...
The Father of a son's friend keeps a samurai style sword behind the front door "just in case" and swears blind it's a necessity. he lives about ten doors down from me.I just don't get it at all.
I hear the same rationale for the young people I work with carrying knives - "in case I meet someone else who has one". It's kind of ironic, given the last person who was stabbed round the estate where they live got done with his own knife, which he'd pulled on someone, had it taken off him in the scuffle, then inserted into his own chest!
From the perspective of being an ex-bouncer, I'd always be very wary of diving into a situation in a way that's almost guaranteed to escalate the situation. When I started as a bouncer, I was pretty fortunate to work alongside a guy who was ex-forces (think it might have been Military Police), who was very good at being calmly assertive and dealing with situations in a way that got people out the door without kicking off a huge ruckus. However, I also worked with one or two guys who were worryingly up for a bit of aggro and it wasn't unusual for them to trigger violence that could have been avoided if the situation had been dealt with in a more controlled manner. it's surprisingly easy to find yourself on the business end of a beating, even if you're reasonably handy in a fight. I remember getting jumped by a group of guys as my mate and I were walking home from the pub; I got caught with a punch from behind and hit the deck before we even knew we were in a fight and if I'd have been on my own, I could have been kicked all round the place without being able to do much about it, despite being a big guy, rugby player, bouncer etc etc.
There's a lot of out of date information being quoted on the previous page about Cautions. The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 was amended in 2007 to include cautions, getting rid of the anomoly of some convictions being "spent" after a period of time but lesser cautions being held indefinitely.
Cautions are now spent as soon as they are issued, unless it's a Conditional Caution, when they become spent after 3 months.
See https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/q562.htm and http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/powers/cautioning/ for information, which are both updated regularly. There's an awful lot of incorrect information on this on the internet.
As said, some insurers won't insure someone with a caution in the last 5 years. Others specify only cautions for dishonesty (theft, fraud etc). Others only specify "unspent convictions and cautions" (M&S home insurance for instance).
I think it's highly unlikely a caution for affray will cause you problems, however Muddy YGM ref this, as Ronod says there is a lot of inaccurate information being written, but at least people are trying to help I guess!