London is a lesson to be learned from that London’s leadership refuses to pay attention to.

The rash of knife attacks that have occurred within London has been so bad that it put it over New York in terms of murder. The sane thing to do would be to realize that banning weapons doesn’t stop crime or homicides. The wise thing to do is realize that humanity is flawed, and that banning weapons with which to defend oneself only leaves good people defenseless against the malicious intent of bad people.

But London Mayor Sadiq Khan has leaned so far left that he has tumbled over into insane territory. His reaction is to dissuade people from carrying knives, and claiming that there is no excuse to carry one. As Caleb Howe commented earlier, a ridiculous campaign featuring self-aggrandizing teenagers doing cool things, then talking about how they don’t carry a knife.

Too many young Londoners are being senselessly lost to knife crime. Share our film and help carry a different message #LondonNeedsYouAlive #LNYA pic.twitter.com/uApDYWryu5

— Mayor of London (gov.uk/coronavirus) (@MayorofLondon) April 8, 2018

Khan is a very short-sighted man. That much is apparent. You cannot stop violence with campaigns, videos, and bans on this or that. This is not how the world works. This is not how humanity works.

Mankind is demonstrably peaceful overall, but there are elements in this imperfect world that influence our species to leave behind our peaceful default, and become dangerous. Sometimes this violence stems from being forced into a defensive position. A man may become violent in order to defend his wife, children, or home. A woman may become violent in order to protect herself from a man who doesn’t respect boundaries.

This is good violence. Danger is a neutral force, and when danger is utilized for good, society benefits overall. The malicious are defeated, and are either dead, captured, or wounded in such a way that they will hopefully think twice about their intent from then on.

Good violence allows society to maintain itself. Without the ability for good people to be dangerous, you’re allowing the nefarious an advantage where they can kill, rape, and steal with minimal consequence. When bad dangerous people have that kind of leeway, society begins to come apart at the seams.

This is what Khan is doing. He has placed the blame of the evil committed on the weapon, not the person. This has the dual effect of, once again, depriving people of their best means of defense, but also telling criminals that they aren’t really the target. Something else is to blame for their evil, not them.

That’s emboldening.

Rest assured that if knives were banned in London — though I don’t see how — then evil people will find a different weapon to use to commit their crimes. Crowbars and tire irons are also effective tools for killing people. A bat with a nail or two in it isn’t that hard to make. Let’s not forget that a shiv is a popular tool for those who don’t have access to knives. You will never ban enough weapons. Even if you eliminated all potentially dangerous objects, you’d still have people killing others with their bare hands.

Evil exists with or without a weapon. You cannot legislate it away. You can only defend yourself against it.

Leave the knife alone, and allow people to carry them if they need them. In fact, it’d probably be wiser to loosen restrictions on firearms and allow good people to have the best means of defense available to the world’s population.

Turn your attention to the person behind the weapon. It’s his or her fault. Study what caused them to do it, and develop knowledge about the circumstances behind that person’s decision to deal out death or harm. Acquire knowledge, and refrain from spreading blind fear about an inanimate object.

No knife, gun, or weapon of any kind inspired someone to commit evil. Banning the object won’t banish the evil. Evil will only find another way.