LONDON (AP) 鈥 Actor Idris Elba on Monday urged the British government to ban machetes and serrated 鈥渮ombie" knives to help stop young people falling victim to knife crime.
The London-born star of 鈥淭he Wire鈥 and 鈥淟uther鈥 joined protesters from the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Stop Your Future鈥 campaign outside Parliament, posing with clothes and shoes representing people killed by knives.
In the U.K, which has strict gun-control laws, about four in 10 homicides involve a knife or sharp instrument. There is particular concern about knife crime involving young people in Britain鈥檚 cities. In London, 21 teenagers were killed in 2023, 18 of whom were stabbed to death.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 stay silent as more young lives are lost to these brutal and heartless crimes,鈥 Elba said. 鈥淎s school returns, too many young people will not be joining their classmates and too many grieving families have lost a young person they love in recent years.鈥
The government announced a ban on machetes and knives that are designed to look threatening in August 2023, but the law has yet to be approved by Parliament.
Elba also said technology companies should be held accountable for knife imagery on mobile phones.
鈥淚 can pick up a phone right now, type in knives and I鈥檒l get inundated with adverts for them," he said. "We should find a way to deter tech companies, advertising, to put that away.鈥
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak鈥檚 spokesman, Max Blain, said knife crime and hospital admissions for stabbings had both fallen compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019-2020.
鈥淏ut, still, we know knife crime devastates lives,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e do want to do more. It鈥檚 welcome that Idris Elba and others continue to shine a light on this important issue.鈥
