Part 4/8:
Amid these policies, police officials like Brett Curran introduced an even more bizarre initiative: machete bins. These would be placed outside police stations, inviting the public—particularly families concerned about their children’s safety—to drop off their machetes and knives. To the untrained eye, this sounds like a noble attempt at gun or weapon control; to experts and citizens alike, it’s a laughable and juvenile approach.
Curran confidently suggested that these bins would serve two purposes: protect families from dangerous weapons and reduce violence. However, he also conceded that the problem would never fully disappear and that criminals might instead shift to more readily available kitchen knives—a fact already well-known to law enforcement.