Their reasons were not totally unfounded! The doctors had been noticing an increase in violent crime, and a large number of stabbing cases involved kitchen knives. The theory reasoned that the kitchen knife was a handy implement of impulsive crime.
These attacks were often coupled with alcohol or drugs, leading doctors to suppose the stabbings were often spur of the moment events and the level of injury could be substantially reduced should the knives not have sharp ends. They even went so far as to consult a group of prominent chefs who stated that there was no real reason a domestic kitchen knife needed a sharp point.
The doctors further stated that the precedent was already established when 18th century eating houses introduced dinner knives with blunt points in an effort to reduce the degree of injury to patrons during the frequent fights that broke out.
Needless to say, despite the high level of logic contained in the request, it is still possible to purchase sharp pointed kitchen knives in Britain.
