Rejected petition Allow licensed citizens to carry approved non-lethal devices for self-defence

Introduce a Personal Protection Licensing Scheme allowing vetted, trained UK citizens to lawfully carry approved non-lethal defensive devices for self-defence, to close the gap between citizen vulnerability and reduced police protection. Citizens deserve the right to defend themselves responsibly.

More details

Knife attacks are rising - 50,000+ last year alone. Police numbers are falling, ordinary citizens are left defenceless. We seek a balanced, modern approach - allowing defensive parity between citizens and attackers, under strict legal and ethical boundaries. The UK already trusts citizens to hold driving licences, own sporting firearms, and operate machinery - all of which carry risks. It is reasonable to extend that trust, under control, to the responsible and limited use of defensive devices.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for similar action:

Make it legal to carry regulated non-lethal self-defence products.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/743664

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 2 November 2025
Get petition data (json format)

About petition data

The data shows the number of people who have signed the petition by country as well as in the constituency of each Member of Parliament. This data is available for all petitions on the site. It is not a list of people who have signed the petition. The only name that is shared on the site is that of the petition creator.