City Council Aims to Block Sales of Knives to Children

decided on Wednesday to pursue an ordinance that would require convenience store owners to obtain a license to sell certain knives in an effort to protect child safety.

To sell knives with a fixed or locking blade, 2 inches or longer, store owners would have to obtain a license from the Boston Police Department's Licensing Unit.

The law would not apply to owners of department or hardware stores.

City Councilor Michael Ross, who presides over the council’s Committee on Public Safety, claimed that the sales of knives at convenience stores led to some 1,300 stabbings in the past two years.

“Kids in our schools walk around with knives like they’re walking around with a cell phone, a watch or a pen,” Ross said.

If police discover that a convenience store owner or employee has sold a knife to a child, they will revoke the store’s license for the year, he said. 

The council referred further discussion of the proposed ordinance to its Committee on Government Operations.

Other notable motions, orders and resolutions

• Councilors Felix Arroyo and Stephen Murphy called for a public hearing to encourage Massport Authority, an independent agency that owns Logan Airport, to increase the pay for the workers who push disabled travelers through the airport. Arroyo said they make about $8 an hour, while janitors and others make $15 an hour. There’s such a gap in pay, Arroyo said, because Massport expected those who use the wheelchair service to tip. But that doesn’t always happen, he said, adding that he hoped the public hearing would ensure that “everyone who works at our airport earns a living wage and is treated with respect.”
• Councilors Ayanna Pressley and Salvatore LaMattina have requested a public hearing to discuss the inability of the elderly to change the temperature in their government-sponsored apartments. Pressley said that the 68-degree temperature at which property managers set the thermostat in the fall has been too hot for many residents during this year’s balmy September days.