Jeremy Wright MP on.....knife crime

Chris Smith

08 July 2008

IT SEEMS that no community in Britain has remained untouched by knife crime in recent weeks. A young man’s death in Rugby is only one particularly tragic example.

This is a terrifying phenomena for two reasons. First, the age of those involved seems lower with every passing incident. Children of 10 and 11 are settling playground fights with knives when they would previously have done so with fists.

This makes the playground a dangerous place for them and their teachers.

Young people are often the perpetrators of these crimes and, as is often the case, they are usually also the victims.

The other reason to fear knife crime is that the legislative response is far from straightforward. Possession of a gun, unless you have a licence, cannot be acceptable. Guns are perhaps more accessible than we would like them to be, but they are not available in every home.

Neither point is true of knives. People have a knife, perfectly properly, for all kinds of reasons in the course of their work or leisure activities and, of course, a lethal weapon is to be found in every kitchen drawer. So we cannot just ban knives.
What, then, should we do?

First, we should ensure that carrying a knife illegitimately triggers a serious punishment. Second, we should look at the loopholes which prohibit the carrying of a combat knife but permit their sale in the marketplaces of our small towns.

Thirdly, and perhaps most challengingly, we must change the attitudes of our young people to knives. Most who carry one will say they do so for protection - they say they are safer with one.

Of course the opposite is the case. Many of those injured with a knife are injured with the knife they themselves were carrying. Your chances of being a victim of knife crime are higher if you carry one.

So the message must be simple and communicated by the role models young people take seriously. It must be this - get rid of the knife before it kills you.
Jeremy Wright
MP for Rugby and Kenilworth

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