Additionally, anyone carrying a weapon is up to no good and can be arrested now. Do you know how often I carry a weapon? Never. I've never touched a loaded firearm (and I've been in the UK reserve forces for 15 years). I've never seen a firearm in the hands of anyone who isn't a trained professional (although if I lived in a rural area I'd probably see a farmer use one for vermin). I've never seen anyone with a knife bigger than a penknife (which mustn't lock) outside a kitchen or workshop, and if I did I'd call the police because they're up to no good. I believe that I am much safer than I would be if people around me were carrying weaponry.

You say it's weird. I think it's weird for people to wander around carrying weaponry. I know someone in the US whose brother considered taking a gun to the shops in case there was anyone there with a gun. Carrying weapons causes them to be used. When I go to the pub, do you know how often I wonder if the loud-mouthed slightly drunk guy is carrying a weapon? Never.

Casual UK knife crime (by which I mean the recent influx of stabbings etc amongst, typically, poor teenagers; not hardened criminals, but idiot, insecure children) is rooted in the unfortunate belief that they need to carry weapons to be safe.