New Rules for the Carriage of Weapons When Attending Market Day

Today, the 17th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1270, leaders of the village have announced that subjects of the Crown will be restricted from carrying daggers and other weapons, either openly or secreted upon their persons, while attending the monthly Market Day in the village square.

"These people who wish to bring these dangerous instruments with them when going to market must learn that we will not stand for such things." said Sheriff Brown, head of local law enforcement. 

"Those who wish to own and carry bows, daggers, hammers, and other weapons should join the local band of bowmen and then only be armed when mustered to keep the peace, defend the realm, or practice.  Only the ones who have been trained by His Majesty's government to keep the peace and handle weapons should have them at the market.  The carriage of weapons in a public place by the general populace of the village endangers not only the people who have the weapons, but also all of the other good people of the community, many of which are children.  Will these knaves not think upon the children?"

Those subjects who feel that the new law is nonsensical point to the fact that many of them live upon their freeholds, some as far as a days walk away from the village and its defenders.  This requires them to travel through the King's forest to reach the market.  They assert that the forest is populated with many dangerous animals, for whom an unarmed man or woman is an easy supper.  They also point out that highwaymen and other ne'er-do-wells have become a problem not only in the forest, but also in the darker corners of the village.

"I may be the strongest man in the county," said DaddyBear, a local farmer and craftsman, "but even I cannot carry one of the Sheriff's bowmen with me all day.  How will I defend my family if it will take two hours for my fastest son to reach the village and raise the alarm?  When seconds count, the Sheriff is only a few hours away.".

The dispute may come to a head later this fall, when the Lord Mayor has ordered the Sheriff to start enforcing the rules against weapons with random searches of those attending the market.  He plans to place those who carry weapons without permission of His Majesty's government in the stocks, with repeat offenders being put to hard labor.