Overview

The U.K. Ninja Sword Ban, also known as Ronan's Law, refers to an upcoming ban on katanas and "ninja swords" in the United Kingdom set to take place on August 1st, 2025. The ban was initially proposed by the family of late British 16-year-old Ronan Kanda, who was stabbed to death outside of his home with a ninja sword in 2022. The ban was officially announced on Twitter / X by U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who tweeted, "Confirmed: Ninja swords will be banned by this summer," in March 2025. The proposed law aimed to combat the U.K.'s stabbing-related crime rates, mostly executed with knives. The announcement led to memes and jokes at the U.K.'s expense because of the niche weapon ("ninja swords") that the ban focused on. Many jokes were made about Japan not having a "ninja sword" problem in comparison, despite the country likely having the most ninja swords in the world. Many of the jokes used the term "ninjas" as a substitute for the n-word to racistly insist that young Black men were the problem and not the swords. The catchphrase, "It's not the ninja swords. It's the ninjas," was widely spread in relation, riffing on the American equivalent about guns.

Background

On June 29th, 2022, 16-year-old Ronan Kanda was stabbed to death near his home in Wolverhampton.^[1] About a year later, two teenagers were taken into custody and charged for the murder. It was reportedly a case of mistaken identity, as the two perpetrators mistook Kanda for another person. The court discovered that a "zombie" knife, a machete and a ninja sword were used by the perpetrators who purchased the items online.^[2]

On July 26th, 2023, the mother of Ronan Kanda created a petition on Change.org^[3] to ban the sale of "machetes, zombie knives and other threatening blades online." The petition received over 10,400 signatures by 2025.

On September 24th, 2024, U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced that "Ronan's law," based on the petition's request, was to take effect in the country.^[4]

On March 27th, 2025, U.K. PM Keir Starmer tweeted,^[4] "Confirmed: Ninja swords will be banned by this summer. When we promise action we take it." The tweet received over 19.4 million views and 12,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Online Reaction

PM Starmer's announcement sparked viral reactions and discussions in the following days as it spread online.

For instance, on March 27th, 2025, X^[5] user @Geiger_Capital tweeted a screenshot of Starmer's tweet, writing, "If Ninja swords were the problem, Japan would have more stabbings than the UK. It's not the ninja swords. It's the ninjas," receiving over 111,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Tristan Tate, the brother of Andrew Tate, echoed the abovementioned tweet in a reply^[6] to PM Starmer. He ended it with "IYKYK," hinting that he was using "ninjas" as a code word or dog whistle for groups of people that he was labeling responsible for the knife crimes ("ninjas" commonly being used as slang^[8] for Black people). His reply received over 51,000 likes in a day (shown below).

On March 27th, 2025, Redditor^[7] JobWide2631 shared a Living in 1984 meme to /r/HistoryMemes, which showed the man flipping over the calendar as his wife says, "The government has announced a ban on katanas." The meme received over 6,400 upvotes in a day (shown below).

Search Interest

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External References