In context: You might have seen a story recently about a man in the UK who was jailed for four months after approaching police officers on the street while wielding a six-inch replica of Link's Master Sword. Many noted how this sentence seemed incredibly excessive, but there's some extra context to the story.
On June 8, 48-year-old Anthony Bray, of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England, was seen on CCTV walking down the street brandishing a small replica of the Legend of Zelda Master Sword. He approached police while still holding the item in view, at which point he was arrested for carrying a bladed article.
Bray later claimed that the sword was a "fidget," bought online to keep his hands busy. Police explained that the sheathed six-inch blade, which could be drawn with the press of a button, was a sharply pointed item that could be used as a weapon and might put others in fear of it being used against them.
Bray admitted the sword could be perceived as threatening, but insisted during later interviews that he never intended to use it as a weapon. He was eventually sentenced to four months in prison and fined £154 (around $195) for possession of a bladed article in public.
"We take a zero tolerance to bladed articles in public, and Bray has fallen afoul of this," said Sergeant Spellman of the Patrol Investigations Unit. "It is possible to find fidget toys that aren't six-inch blades. It is possible not to walk down the street holding them out in front of you. With a bit more self-awareness, Bray could have avoided contact with us completely."
The West Midlands, where Nuneaton is located, has the highest knife crime rate in England and Wales, which partially explains Bray's harsh sentence. But, as highlighted by Forbes, one thing that doesn't get mentioned in many of the reports is that Bray is a repeat offender.
According to Forbes, Bray's been known to police since 1989, appeared in court several times during the 90s, and was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison in 2011 after appearing in court for the fourth time as a "three strikes" burglar. There's little doubt that his criminal past was an influence on the severity of his sentence.
In 2014, a man in Katy, Texas, was hospitalized after being stabbed with a (presumably full-size) Zelda Master Sword.
