The German government is seeking to ban knives with blades longer than 2.4 inches in public in an effort to curtail a rise in stabbing incidents, for which the blame is being put on illegal immigrants. 

The German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said that she and her colleagues will be “submitting corresponding amendments to the weapons legislation shortly” in response to the increase in knife attacks.

Mrs. Faeser said that a small, 6.6-centimeter (2.4-inch) knife is “all you need” when engaging in everyday activities. She is also advocating for a total ban on switchblades in the country.

German law already prohibits citizens from carrying blades longer than 4.7 inches in public. The idea for further restrictions on an already stringent knife policy comes as stabbings increased by nearly 6 percent from last year, and those numbers are still on the climb.

In places like New York City, laws prohibits the possession of a knives in public that are longer than 4 inches, regardless of whether the blade is concealed, with exceptions for EMTs, military personnel, and the like. 

Not all knives are illegal, but may become illegal based on how they are used or possessed. Switchblades, ballistic knives, and metal knuckle knives are all illegal in the city.

German police have seen a higher number of stabbing incidents in the first half of 2024 than last year, especially around train stations, DPA International reports. 

This comes as Britain has also seen its own instances of such violence, with at least eight people stabbed on July 29 at a Taylor Swift themed dance workshop at Southport. The number of stabbings in Britain has also been consistently climbing since 2020. 

Conservative outlets are accusing illegal immigrants of being the main driving force behind Germany’s increase in stabbings.

Young men who have entered Germany from parts of the Middle East and Africa are contributing to an overall rise of brutality in the country, and weeks without any stabbings are becoming increasingly rare, Die Welt reports.

The National Pulse says that illegal immigrants are responsible for nearly 60 percent of Germany’s violent crimes, despite making no direct reference to the primary source it quotes for the data.

However, according to a 2023 German Police report, the German-born population of the country accounted for 58.51 percent of violent crime. 

Britain saw a surge of anti-immigration riots in response to the stabbings on July 29, one taking place near a mosque that week. Protesters hurled beer cans, bottles, and flares near Prime Minister Starmer’s residence the next day.

The culprit in that stabbing allegedly was a 17-year-old son of immigrants from Rwanda, who was arrested.

Many incidents of violent crime, instigated by migrants, have occurred in Europe in the past year, prompting many conservatives, such as Prime Minister Orban of Hungary, to advocate for tighter immigration restrictions in a bid for public safety.

Mrs. Faser has also called for local authorities to create and impose gun- and knife-free zones in different German municipalities. 

Critics are arguing that such a policy would be futile and would not render any beneficial results. Germany has previously instituted “no knife” zones in various areas of the country, but they have often proven ineffective in deterring crime.

“If someone plans an extremist act, he realizes that he is not allowed to do so. A no-weapon-ban zone does not matter,” criminologist Elena Rausch told Apollo News.