2. c. 14) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that restricts the carrying of offensive weapons in public.

The Act was passed in response to the large rise in violent crime in the United Kingdom, with 800 cases of armed robbery, assault with intent to rob or robbery with violence and 4,445 cases of malicious wounding in 1951 (the last year up to that point with such statistics) while many of these crimes did not include the use of weapons there were calls from politicians, police officers and members of the public for new laws to combat the problem by restricting civilian weapons.

For a conviction under the third category, the prosecution must show evidence that the defendant was intending to use it as an offensive weapon.

[4] Despite the carrying of an offensive weapon in a public place being a criminal offence, suspected offenders are given the ability to raise a defence on the civil burden of proof, i.e. on the balance of probabilities.

This defence is that the offender, on the balance of probabilities, had lawful authority or reasonable excuse for having the weapon in public.