Conventional wisdom among those who believe it is guns which are responsible for murders is taking a drubbing in the UK:

One teenager has been killed on the streets of Britain every five days this year as the number of fatal stabbings soars, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Official figures from each police force in the UK reveal a grim tally of 65 teenagers who have met a violent death since January 1 - almost two-thirds of whom were stabbed to death.

Perhaps it has to do with the culture?

The fact that knives are now reaping the same deadly harvest as did guns should clue someone into the fact that banning knives isn't going to stop these types of murder. But apparently that still hasn't sunk in yet:

In response, the Met launched its largest operation yet targeting knives, called Operation Blunt 2, using airport-style metal detectors, search wands and emergency stop-and-search powers. Since it began in the Spring, 150,000 people have been searched, 5,370 people arrested and 3,242 knives seized.

Tough enforcement measures, a high detection rate and millions of pounds being spent on anti knife crime initiatives had not stopped the rate of killing rising sharply from 17 in 2006, 16 each in 2005 and 2004, and 15 in 2003. But the latest drive has significantly curbed the rate of killings in London in the last three months.

And that last statistic will, unfortunately, most likely convince law enforcement and political leaders that confiscation of the means of murder will somehow thwart the reason, no matter how illogical or irrational, for murder.

I wonder when we'll begin to read about a rise in clubbing deaths.

[Crossposted at QandO]