TASHKENT, Nov 29 (NNN-XINHUA) – Uzbekistan toughened penalties for carrying non-firearm weapons, known here as “cold weapons” in public places, including baseball and softball bats, except for sports and games, Uzbek police said yesterday.
The new amendments to the country’s Criminal Code, aim to ensure public safety amid increasing cases of young people carrying cold weapons, such as knives, blades or sharply pointed metal objects, the police said.
Officers confiscated 4,400 such objects in 2019, but the number has reached 29,000, in the past nine months.
According to the new law, production, exhibition and carrying of cold weapons, that are especially made or designed to inflict injury, may be fined up to 210 U.S. dollars or subject to a 15-day confinement.
There is no specifically designed field for baseball in Uzbekistan, as the game is not popular in the country. But in recent years it has become a fashion among young Uzbek men, to have a baseball bat at home or in their cars, as a means of self-defence.– NNN-XINHUA
