The Law
Given all the fuss that’s been going on about sword bans and what have you I’ve been finding it incredibly hard to find out what the law is regarding them. It is perfectly legal to own them, it’s hideously illegal to carry them in a public place, beyond that: nada. Thankfully for me Bathgirl had some time to kill at Kings Cross yesterday and went to ask the British Transport Police what they thought (rolo for you there). The news is rather good 
First off, there is bugger all information on the web about this so no doubt this entry is going to get people who are searching for the same information I was so lets bung in a disclaimer here. I make no claims about the legality or validity of this information. I am by no means a legal expert and this information is already second hand. The law may have changed or I may have misunderstood what I was told. Different police forces may have different views on things. You troll round with a live blade (or even an imitation weapon for that matter) and get stopped/arrested/shot repeatedly in the head at point blank range/whatever it’s your own damn fault. These things are dangerous and the police get understandably nervous about them. If in doubt go ask them. And for god’s sake don’t go running around with these things in the open. That will get them banned and ruin it for the rest of us.
So, with that in mind, apparently it is perfectly legal to carry swords if they are in an unobtrusive bag/case and you have legitimate cause to be carrying them. Legitimate cause pretty much starts and stops at: transporting them to be sold; transporting them to and from martial arts practice. Self defence is not a legitimate reason (The UK is pretty stringent of self defence laws and we’re not allowed to carry any kind of weapon for that purpose). I wouldn’t like to use ‘I wanted to show my mate‘ as a legitimate reason either, get your mate to come to yours. Provided the bag/case doesn’t look like it’s carrying swords all should be good and it does not count as a concealed weapon. Putting a lock on it wouldn’t go amiss either.
Should you get stopped and searched then apparently holding a licence from the Association of Martial Artists [or something like that, it's all a bit hazy there] goes a long way to convincing the police that you have legitimate cause to be carrying swords. Similarly being a member of a martial arts club also helps stop any confusion (getting both is probably the best bet). That said, claiming you’re off to practice in London on a train heading to Leeds isn’t going to go down well, especially if your club does Karate rather than something where they actually use swords.
Key point here is you go directly from your house to your destination. You do not pop into the shops, you do not nip to the pub, you don’t do for a relaxing stroll in the woods. Doing so puts you on seriously dodgy legal ground.
Apparently, and this did make me chortle somewhat, simply bunging the sword in a box with ’sword’ slapped all over it and taping it up is a huge no no and is also seriously dodgy in legal terms. Whoops 
. Good thing I taped up the bits that said ’sword’, although it does make you wonder where the delivery guy stands from a legal point of view Just to be safe I think I’ll invest in some brown paper to wrap any other ones I get.
Like I say, if you are in doubt, go ask the police. When it comes to stuff like this it’s better to ask for permission than forgiveness.
