“He’s got work to do”
Faron Alex Paul is one of the most vocal activists standing up to knife crime in London but his recent appearance on Good Morning Britain ended in a very curious manner.
Self-titled “dad by day, vigilante by night”, Paul chatted to Piers Morgan and Susannah Reid about his work, discussing how his voucher scheme aims to create an effective knife amnesty amid a series of stabbing incidents across the country.
“Our children aren’t little blacksmiths, sitting down making knives in sheds, so they’re clearly getting them from somewhere,” he said on Monday morning. “If you’re getting them from somewhere, you’re using money to get them.
“So I’m thinking, why are they going to give me their knives for free, but if I give them money, I open myself up to criticism. So I said, okay, vouchers.”
Once the interview ends, Paul simply gets up and walks out of the studio, chuckling and raising his right fist in the air as the hosts are left to explain his exit.
Possibly one of the greatest interview exits ever… pic.twitter.com/hHWb1vFST1
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) March 11, 2019
“He’s off, he’s got work to do,” said Reid. Morgan even described him as: “My kind of guest.
“Job done. Boom. Gone.”
Paul has attracted media attention for his scheme of offering shop vouchers in exchanges for knives. He is a father of two from South London and claims to have been stabbed nine times in knife attacks.
The idea comes from his belief that youngsters carrying weapons don’t trust going to the police when they have decided to dispose of them. Via Instagram, Paul contacts them and meets them personally to carry out the amnesty, while wearing a stabproof vest, before handing it in to police.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuIIT3ogk0X/
“Everybody wants to know why I do this,” he recently told Sky News. “I do it because I have kids and I want them to live long and happy lives.
“Every time I take a knife off the street I am probably saving a life and stopping someone from going to jail. To me that is worth the risk. I’m trying to help build a better future for the next generation and a situation where local communities don’t need to live in fear.”
