Lol I live in South London but I don't feel the need to carry a knife. I only know a few people who do.

I agree that it is getting out of hand though, loads of teens around london (including me) have been threatened with a knife or a gun. They are bringing in finger print entrance and metal detectors to my school next year (not that I will be there anymore due to uni) due to a number of incidents.

Who knows, with easier access to guns, the total number of attempted murders could of rose, so the argument is kind of moot.

Plus, it's attempted murders, one would assume that guns have a higher success rate than knives when it comes to murdering. The murderer is also much more likely to get caught with knife crime, as it has to be done in close proximity, perhaps leaving DNA, etc.

Do you have any evidence to back this up?

Guns and knives tend to be used in very different ways by most criminals and (from my very limited knowlege) most shootings involve a criminal shooting someone once or twice until they fall down (allowing the criminal to run away) while most stabbings involve a criminal repeatedly stabbing someone in their torso until they stop moving. While incidents with one or two gunshot wounds may or may not be more deadly on average than one or two knife wounds, these stabbings involving dozens of wounds are some of the most deadly incidents in most cities.

well, i would assume that a gun is more dangerous, but no, i dont have any figures to back this up, however, you dont have any to back up your statement either, so whats your point?

Also I'd just like to say that in general I don't trust crime statistics as a huge amount isn't reported, such as muggings.

I am a "youth" and although i dont live in London where "they all are" i have never seen or heard about any kife incidents in my school.

wtf? its a well known fact! watch the news! I live in London and have had 3 knife incidents, there is a knife culture in london that needs to be removed asap!

i dont believe everything i hear on the news...

London may well have a problem with knives, but thats not reason to suggest that nearly every youth (what is a youth btw? under 16? under 21?) carries one. you wont tackle the problem by criminalising all young people.

By youth I mean aged between 14-19, I was merely talking generally but the youth today feels it needs to carry knife for protection. It has spiraled out of control with the police having to do stop and search for knives on a daily basis, at the end of the day the knife culture in this country is really something to be scared of, I remember this poor guy Ben Kinsella getting stabbed for no reason. The youth today is messed up, people can get stabbed for having the wrong postcode. Not enough is being done to stop knife crime!