Edmonton one step closer to banning knives sold in convenience stores

Edmonton city council makes a move to ban knives sold in convenience stores. Edmontonians pushing for the restrictions say it’s years in the making. 

“I went to the local convenience store. I sat there and looked at these knives on display, and I thought, ‘this just can’t be happening. There’s that many thieves and thugs in this area that there’s actually a market for these knives?'” asked Allan Bolstad, with the Alberta Avenue Community League.

Those who live near alberta avenue  in central edmonton are celebrating a ban on knives sold in convenience stores. City council passing a motion wednesday that would create a new business class license for corner stores — preventing them from selling the knives. 

Bolstad says store owners in the area he spoke to weren’t willing to take knives off shelves on their own accord.

“They came up with vague excuses like, ‘people need these for self-defence.’ which makes no sense at all. You don’t want to get into a fight with someone with these. And then the follow up line was that ‘oh, they’re legal the police know we got them, they’re not doing anything about it.'”

Knives won’t be taken down overnight, city council heard the process will take about two years to complete as convenience stores renew their business licenses, and councillors still have to approve the bylaw.

That won’t cost the city anything extra, council will later discuss funding around communication to businesses and bylaw enforcement when budget talks take place later this month. 

Councillor Ashley Salvador told media at city hall Wednesday, saying she’s heard from Edmontonians that minors are buying the weapons. 

“Where you can just walk in, and there are knives right next to chocolate bars, that’s a common line that I’ve heard from community members. I’ve also been hearing from parents and parent councils, where they’re seeing concerning trends of kids actually showing up to school with these items,” said Salvador.

The business class license will only target convenience stores and not sporting or outdoor goods stores that sell knives.