Kent man is calling on the government to make knife sales safer
Alan Bacon is the founder of 'No Point Knives', now he wants to bring in Tracy's Law.
Alan Bacon of 'No Point Knives' has launched a new petition, calling for shops to be required to sell knives in lockable cabinets and ban promotional offers.
Speaking to Greatest Hits and Hits Radio Kent, he said:
"What happens now is many shops have signed up for something called the voluntary agreement, which is from 2016, and was updated in 2024
" But there are some in there that don't follow the voluntary agreement because it is voluntary, it's not legislation. So they can decide if they want to do it or not.
"And then some just don't sign it.
"So there are ones that are very bad, that have knives that can quite easily be stolen, they're near the front door. Down the floor for the children get.
"This is why I've started a petition. To try and get these shops to not just have to sign a voluntary agreement on selling knives safer, but actually have legislation that forces them to do it. So they can't pick and choose.
"Because I think that allowing someone to self-regulate is fine until they just ignore it and do what they want to do."
Tracy's Law
Alan started No Point Knives after his mother, Tracy, was killed. Now he's asking for the new restrictions outlined in the petition to be called 'Tracy's Law':
"It forces the shops not to stop selling knives.
"So we're not taking that away from people, but to sell from cabinets or behind a counter.
"So then it's a safer way of selling, one children can't get at.
"It puts a barrier in place for people that are going to use it in the wrong way to have to get through.
"So it forces the age restrictions to be taken into consideration. And also no stealing. The knives cannot be stolen.
"It's just a safer way of doing it without harming any public that want to still buy knives.."
The dangers of knife crime
On why he felt the need to call for change now, Alan said:
"The big figure at the moment is 48% of homicides with knives are using kitchen knives.
"And there is a couple of percentage where we don't know what kind of knives they are, so it could be rising.
"This will bring in much safer ways of doing things. And we already know shops that have implemented this have safer environments. "
Alan currently works with shops to help make knife storage safer, and assists individuals who want to 'surrender' the knives in their homes, but are unsure where to dispose of them.