Essex MP says she's making progress in changing the laws around zombie knives
Anna Firth MP was inspired to change the law after hearing about a story in her constituency
An Essex MP says she's making good progress in changing the laws that surround the sale and possession of zombie knives.
Zombie knives are categorised as a type of ornate knife or bladed weapon inspired by films. They can range in size but have to have a serrated edge and images or words on the blade or handle.
Anna Firth is the MP for Southend West, she was inspired to push the government to clamp down on the weapons after hearing about the teenager in her consistuency.
"Over Christmas, I got an email from Southend police to say a 17-year-old had bought one of these huge, great zombie knives online.
"They went round to the house, but because the zombie knife didn't have any images or words on the blade or handle, it fell outside the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, so they couldn't legally take the knife away.
"But, by fat chance, it was between Christmas and New Year and the box (the knife had arrived in) was lying around and had the imagery on it
"This gave them (the police) the powers, under a different act, to take it away", she said.
But the Southend MP says more needs to be done and therefore she's continuing to push for "there to not only be age verification at the point of purchase" but also "at the point of collection."
So far the campaign has received the backing from Home Secretary Suella Braverman who agrees the laws need to be tightened.