It’s a snap to pack a machete

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/03/2010 (5875 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Dark Demon Slayer. The Abalone Gangbuster. The Reaper Machete.

The names for these knives and machetes make clear their lethal potential, but you can purchase them all legally at the Ellice Buy and Sell and any number of other stores around town.

In fact, it will cost you as little as $11 to arm yourself with an 18-inch machete, such as one the Free Press bought Monday at a Jarvis Avenue store

It was a machete Eric Russel Daniels was wielding when police shot the 28-year-old man Saturday night.

The Winnipeg Police Service says he refused to drop the weapon.

Daniels’ family say they don’t know where Daniels got the machete, but the Ellice Buy and Sell owner said the knives are widely available at city stores and flea markets.

The owner said he won’t sell the knives or machetes to people less than 18 years old, or to people who appear stoned or intoxicated.

"That’s a different story," said Arnold, who wanted only his first name used.

He said he asks for photo identification from people who appear they could be under the age of 18.

Same for Larry Weinstein, owner of United Unlimited, where the Free Press bought the large, steel-blade machete.

Weinstein says he has customers who live in northern communities and buy the machetes to chop bush, or collectors who like to display the items.

The packaging shows a person holding the machete in a garden.

Weinstein acknowledges there’s been a robbery in the area involving a sword and another incident involving a cleaver.

He said he won’t sell machetes to people under 18 unless their parents are present. Also out are drunk people or those who appear "deranged."

"We’re not psychiatrists," he said. "We can’t check out a person’s psyche or his being."

Giselle Mackinnon said Daniels, who was her boyfriend, had his machete, which was about as long as a shoebox, because he was a former Native Syndicate gang member who feared retribution.

After getting into an argument with a couple outside their Home Street bungalow Saturday — a fight that apparently started when Daniels threatened them — he ran south with Mackinnon towards Arlington Street near Sargent Avenue. The couple chased them there and started yelling at them, Mackinnon said.

She said her drunk boyfriend, who had problems with alcohol and had a lengthy criminal record, responded by hitting his hand on a light standard in frustration.

Police who arrived told Daniels twice to drop the weapon, Mackinnon said. She said police fired three shots at him after he started walking towards officers with the machete. She estimated Daniels was about 1.5 metres from police when they fired.

John Gray, a West End resident and board president of Maryland Street’s New Life Ministries, said he would support stricter laws controlling edged weapons like machetes.

Gray favours age restrictions and a waiting period before purchase "at the very least."

"Anything to sort of slow down the process where you can just walk into some place (and buy one)," he said.

"I realize anything can be a weapon," he said. "However, you know, for the most part, from what I can tell, these types of thing like a machete, I mean, we don’t live in a jungle. So what do we use them for?"

Police said machetes are available to people who want to use them for nefarious purposes.

"Like any other edged weapons that are out there, if somebody wants to procure one, they’re going to find a way to get them," said Const. Jackie Chaput.

Police said Monday the two officers involved will be on administrative leave for a minimum of three days, standard after a police-involved shooting. The homicide unit is investigating the death.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

 

That’s the fine edge of the law

WE have large knives in our homes to cut food. Some people use machetes to clear brush. But when, legally, do knives and machetes become weapons?

According to the Criminal Code of Canada, a knife isn’t a weapon (unless it’s a switchblade, which is considered a "prohibited weapon"). The definition changes when the knife is intended for violent use.

Likewise, a machete designed as an agricultural tool can legally become a weapon when it’s intended to hurt or kill other people.

The Criminal Code says it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon (violators can get up to five years in prison if convicted of the charge), but questions can arise when the knife is concealed.

"Is it a weapon under the definition of the code, or is it just someone carrying a knife?" asked David Deutscher, a professor in the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba. The facts in each case determine the answer.

Again, where things get fuzzy is in the intent. Once the police or Crown attorney determine a violent intent and public safety comes into doubt, the knife is then considered a weapon.

Hacking coconuts with a machete in your kitchen is fine. But slinging your blade around at Portage and Main, putting people in peril? That won’t cut it.

 

— Staff