Banning Blades

Knife Crime, Violence, and the Limits of Weapon Bans

In an effort to tackle a surge in knife crime, Australia has now banned machetes.

Under the law changes, machetes will be classified as a prohibited weapon from 1 September 2025. If people wish to own a machete for an allowed purpose such as agriculture, they will need to apply for an exemption. These exemptions will be worked through with industry.

-Press release from the Premier of Victoria, March 19, 2025

I was unaware that Australia has issues with knife crime. From what I’ve gathered from several articles over the past year, the issue isn’t so much the uptick in numbers, but rather the increase in high-profile stabbings.

The Sydney Mall Stabbing in April 2024 made news around the world. It was on my TikTok feed as it was occurring because people in the mall were recording and uploading videos of the man running around the mall with the knife in his hand and attacking people. The incident at the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center left six people dead and at least 11 others injured, the youngest being a 9-month-old.

His weapon was described as a “long blade.”

Just two days after the mall stabbing, another man was arrested and accused of stabbing multiple people during a…