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Anyone noticed how Amazon UK is basically out of blades?

Was recently browsing through amazon here in the UK when I realised that all the options for blades had disappeared bar a few. Usually there's a few options: Some Derby blades (extra and premium) couple Gillette types, Astra's, Bic, dorco etc... but now there's basically nothing. You can get 10 or 100 bics for a steep premium, some overprice 5 pack Wilkinson swords... and that's it! Even their own brand ones were out of stock.

Is there some sort of supply issue going on?
 
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The law changed in the UK last year and it is only legal now to ship razor blades if you use recorded delivery with age verification of the recipient. So that would make it more expensive for Amazon vendors to ship blades to UK customers and it’s probably only worthwhile with larger purchases of shaving supplies.

I don’t know if there was a problem with children buying razor blades but perhaps they were imitating Peaky Blinders and it’s all Cillian Murphy’s fault.

Here’s a thread I posted about it at the time….
UK Shipping Of Razors And Blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/uk-shipping-of-razors-and-blades.623130/
 
The law changed in the UK last year and it is only legal now to ship razor blades if you use recorded delivery with age verification of the recipient. So that would make it more expensive for Amazon vendors to ship blades to UK customers and it’s probably only worthwhile with larger purchases of shaving supplies.

I don’t know if there was a problem with children buying razor blades but perhaps they were imitating Peaky Blinders and it’s all Cillian Murphy’s fault.

Here’s a thread I posted about it at the time….
UK Shipping Of Razors And Blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/uk-shipping-of-razors-and-blades.623130/
So I guess this was just one more loophole closed…

Is there any empirical material on the effects of the stricter and stricter knife/gun laws in the UK on the overall crime rate?
 
So I guess this was just one more loophole closed…

Is there any empirical material on the effects of the stricter and stricter knife/gun laws in the UK on the overall crime rate?
There were changes to UK law in 1988 following the Hungerford mass shooting, and further restrictions in 1996 after the Dunblane school shooting, and in the 26 years since then there hasn’t been a multiple shooting incident with handguns. Shotguns and rifles are still allowed with licences in the UK, and there were 3 multiple shootings in the 2010s and 3 in the 2000s with shotguns or rifles. Assault rifles were never allowed in the UK and I’m not aware there has ever been an incident with these weapons.

I think guns were never something the British have been comfortable being around, and most people were glad to see them banned. The British were always proud that their police force was one of the few in the world that were unarmed, and I still find it jarring to go through an airport and see armed police - guns are not really welcomed in our culture. I recall at the time of the bans the only debate was about our Olympic sportsmen and women who competed quite successfully in shooting events, but for the sake of the occasional bronze medal the public wasn’t too worked up about it and the athletes did their training in the Netherlands instead.

Knives are difficult since they have legitimate uses, e.g. for cooking, and are easily concealed, so the banning of carrying large knives in public has a limited effect, but I don’t know the stats.
 
There were changes to UK law in 1988 following the Hungerford mass shooting, and further restrictions in 1996 after the Dunblane school shooting, and in the 26 years since then there hasn’t been a multiple shooting incident with handguns. Shotguns and rifles are still allowed with licences in the UK, and there were 3 multiple shootings in the 2010s and 3 in the 2000s with shotguns or rifles.

I think guns were never something the British have been comfortable being around, and most people were glad to see them banned. The British were always proud that their police force was one of the few in the world that were unarmed, and I still find it jarring to go through an airport and see armed police - guns are not really welcomed in our culture. I recall at the time of the bans the only debate was about our Olympic sportsmen and women who competed quite successfully in shooting events, but for the sake of the occasional bronze medal the public wasn’t too worked up about it and the athletes did their training in the Netherlands instead.

Knives are difficult since they have legitimate uses, e.g. for cooking, and are easily concealed, so the banning of carrying large knives in public has a limited effect, but I don’t know the stats.
Thank you for your detailed response. Gun incidents in Austria a low despite rather moderate laws for ownership and high numbers in possession. Carrying is defacto not possible.

Knife laws are very liberal with rising incident numbers since approximately 2015. My fear for the future is that restrictions will increase without a clear benefit besides headline politics.
 
Thank you for your detailed response. Gun incidents in Austria a low despite rather moderate laws for ownership and high numbers in possession. Carrying is defacto not possible.

Knife laws are very liberal with rising incident numbers since approximately 2015. My fear for the future is that restrictions will increase without a clear benefit besides headline politics.
You’re probably right. I don’t know what effect these new razor blade restrictions will have but I suppose it’s only a small minority of households that buy double-edge razors now and maybe this law will make a difference, since the blades were not often accessible to minors other than by buying online.

Clearly there is a trade-off and it is an inconvenience for UK DE shavers now.
 
The law changed in the UK last year and it is only legal now to ship razor blades if you use recorded delivery with age verification of the recipient. So that would make it more expensive for Amazon vendors to ship blades to UK customers and it’s probably only worthwhile with larger purchases of shaving supplies.

I don’t know if there was a problem with children buying razor blades but perhaps they were imitating Peaky Blinders and it’s all Cillian Murphy’s fault.

Here’s a thread I posted about it at the time….
UK Shipping Of Razors And Blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/uk-shipping-of-razors-and-blades.623130/
Wow, that’s crazy.

Maybe the old wives’ tale of putting razor blades in apples at Halloween is a real thing in the UK? 😉
 
The law changed in the UK last year and it is only legal now to ship razor blades if you use recorded delivery with age verification of the recipient. So that would make it more expensive for Amazon vendors to ship blades to UK customers and it’s probably only worthwhile with larger purchases of shaving supplies.

I don’t know if there was a problem with children buying razor blades but perhaps they were imitating Peaky Blinders and it’s all Cillian Murphy’s fault.

Here’s a thread I posted about it at the time….
UK Shipping Of Razors And Blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/uk-shipping-of-razors-and-blades.623130/
I've never had to provide age verification when buying blades off ebay
 
There were changes to UK law in 1988 following the Hungerford mass shooting, and further restrictions in 1996 after the Dunblane school shooting, and in the 26 years since then there hasn’t been a multiple shooting incident with handguns. Shotguns and rifles are still allowed with licences in the UK, and there were 3 multiple shootings in the 2010s and 3 in the 2000s with shotguns or rifles. Assault rifles were never allowed in the UK and I’m not aware there has ever been an incident with these weapons.

I think guns were never something the British have been comfortable being around, and most people were glad to see them banned. The British were always proud that their police force was one of the few in the world that were unarmed, and I still find it jarring to go through an airport and see armed police - guns are not really welcomed in our culture. I recall at the time of the bans the only debate was about our Olympic sportsmen and women who competed quite successfully in shooting events, but for the sake of the occasional bronze medal the public wasn’t too worked up about it and the athletes did their training in the Netherlands instead.

Knives are difficult since they have legitimate uses, e.g. for cooking, and are easily concealed, so the banning of carrying large knives in public has a limited effect, but I don’t know the stats.

To be clear, guns also have legitimate uses.
 
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