Sale of acids to under-18s to be banned.

[Chippy_Tea]

How many of us smoked and drank alcohol before we were 18, i don't see how this ban is going to stop anyone determined to use acid as a weapon.

The government will ban the sale of acids to anyone under the age of 18, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said.

Her pledge, at the Conservative Party conference, comes as more than 400 attacks using corrosive substances were recorded in the six months to April.

She also said she would "drastically limit" sales of sulphuric acid, given that it can be used to make explosives.

And Ms Rudd called on internet firms and social media platforms to "act now" and remove extremist content online.

Speaking at the conference in Manchester, she said: "Acid attacks are absolutely revolting.

"We have all seen the pictures of victims that never fully recover - endless surgeries, lives ruined.

"So today, I am also announcing a new offence, to prevent the sale of acids to under-18s."

The government said new laws to target people caught carrying acid would be modelled on current legislation around knife carrying, which carries a maximum of four years in prison, a fine, or both.

Plans to tackle the sale of corrosive substances would be similar to the law involving knives, which bans the sale to anyone under the age of 18 and carries a penalty of six months in prison, or a fine.

"We are currently considering the range of substances this would cover," the government added.

More than 400 acid or corrosive substance attacks were carried out in the six months to April this year, according to figures from 39 police forces in England and Wales.

According to NHS Digital data, there have been 624 admissions since 2011/12 because of an "assault by corrosive substance". In 2016/17, there were 109 hospital admissions due to such attacks.

Mrs Rudd said the "drastic" crackdown on the sale of sulphuric acid would help tackle homemade explosive devices containing triacetone triperoxide - often referred to as "mother of Satan" explosives.

Similar devices were used in this year's Manchester Arena bombing and last month's attack at Parsons Green, in west London.

"This is how we help make our communities safer as crime changes," she told delegates.

The home secretary also unveiled plans to make it harder for people under the age of 18 to buy knives online and announced a major investment in technology to help track down indecent images of children online and remove them quickly.

She announced more than £500,000 of investment in a "cutting-edge web crawler", which experts say can process thousands of image hashes per second as a way of removing child abuse images.

Mrs Rudd told the conference there had been "an exponential surge in the volume of child sexual abuse referrals" and called on messaging service WhatsApp to help tackle the problem.

"Our investment will also enable internet companies to proactively search for, and destroy, illegal images in their systems," she said.

"We want them to start using it as soon as they can."

In another policy announcement, she also said people who repeatedly view extremist material online could face up to 15 years in prison.

She said extending prison sentence for those viewing extremist content online would close an important gap in the legislation, with tougher sentences only applying at the moment if people have downloaded or stored the material.

Ms Rudd told party activists in Manchester that security services had foiled seven terrorist plots this year.

BBC News.

 

[AdeDunn]

Unless combined with the need for valid ID and proof of address, and your details been taken and recorded. This is already done for a lot of chemicals (if you buy potassium nitrate for example, the purchase and your address are logged). As with many laws however, it relies on the co-operation of retailers to enforce, just like not selling booze to under 18s. Enforcement costs money though, and we've seen how well laws get enforced these days with all of the cuts. Laws cost money, or they're just a pointless exercise in pen pushing.

 

[Cwrw666]

Don't see anything wrong with this. Except of course that things like bleach and oven cleaners are readily available in supermarkets - it's just as well that under 18s never go shoplifting.

Plus of course there are plenty of things that they could still legally buy that could be mixed up to make a strong caustic solution, just as effective as battery acid etc.

 

[simon12]

I think the ban is going to be on the sale of "corrosive substances" to under 18s not specifically acids. I imagine there will be a list drawn up. But like you all say its not going to make it hard to get for anyone.

 

[Ken L]

This is just pointless virtue signalling on the part of Rudd. It's not going to do anything to prevent people who want acid as a weapon from getting it and there is no proposed sentencing change to act as a deterrent.
It's business as usual for gang members and culturally incompatible immigrants intent of maiming.....

 

[trueblue]

The line "Drastically limit" sales of Sulphuric acid is a big worry to me as I use it to treat my brewing liquor, really surprised other brewers are not as ****** off as well. I will look to buy a 5lt container before the they bring in restrictions.
All this and it won't stop the scrotes as they will just move to ammonia or the like.

 

[Gunge]

Unless combined with the need for valid ID and proof of address, and your details been taken and recorded. This is already done for a lot of chemicals (if you buy potassium nitrate for example, the purchase and your address are logged). As with many laws however, it relies on the co-operation of retailers to enforce, just like not selling booze to under 18s. Enforcement costs money though, and we've seen how well laws get enforced these days with all of the cuts. Laws cost money, or they're just a pointless exercise in pen pushing.

I know you can buy potassium nitrate ( and strong acids ) on ebay. Are you saying that such purchases from ebay go onto a register somewhere?

 

[GerritT]

I know you can buy potassium nitrate ( and strong acids ) on ebay. Are you saying that such purchases from ebay go onto a register somewhere?

I'm quite certain that the purchase is stored somewhere in a gouvernment file.

 

[AdeDunn]

Reading the legislation, the law may have changed slightly since I last purchased KNO3 (back then every sale was recorded with the purchasers name, address etc) as the relevant law was changed in 2015.

Here is the relevant legislation as current https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...rs/supplying-explosives-precursors-and-poison. It seems they have changed it to only require reporting of suspicious purchases (that's working so well eh?). Acids are covered by the same legislation already too....

Kind of proves my point though, that legislation without requiring the recording of sales is less effective. With the increase in use of IUDs once again, in this country and the rest of Europe, we'll likely see a back step with this change.

Not sure why any brewers would be worried about the law change though. Surely if you are brewing booze you're over 18 anyway. :lol: At worst, we'll see a return to purchases been logged. Heck, this already happens if you buy a TV or related equipment.

The problem with laws of this nature though is, as others have commented, even if you restrict access to one particular weapon the criminals just adapt and use a different one. Before you know it, there are more and more laws created, and sooner or later they start infringing upon our freedoms. Problem is, the pro gun crows use the same argument in the US...