There are things you can make up and some things you can’t even come close to fabricating. This falls into the latter category. A Williamsburg Council Member is calling for a ban on the sale of machetes in New York City. This is because of the infamous machete attacks in the South Burg by gang members upon other gang members. Here’s a snippet:

In a city whose mayor has been one of the nation’s most outspoken proponents of gun control, Councilwoman Diana Reyna of Brooklyn has distinguished herself by considering a bill to ban sales of a different weapon: the machete. In July and August, four machete attacks were reported in the southern part of Williamsburg, where many of Ms. Reyna’s constituents live. Late last month, worries over machete violence again rippled through the community when a stray bullet hit a 5-year-old girl in nearby Ridgewood during a shootout. One of the young people involved in the attack was seen wielding a machete. Ms. Reyna has attributed the seeming proliferation of machetes in part to the rising membership and influence of the Trinitarios, a local gang that has adopted the name — and evidently, the preferred weapon— of a revolutionary group that fought against Haiti during the Dominican Republic’s struggle for independence in 1844.

While we understand that machetes have legitimate uses in, uh, getting rid of stubborn weeds in gardens, they do seem to strike us as bit excessive. On the other hand, knowing how this stuff goes, virtually anything can serve a deadly purpose if one intends it to do so. That the call for the ban comes from the Burg (and recalls the days of old) does come laden with some symbolic value.