Weapons Awareness

Weapons awareness is an interactive educational workshop for young people between 11 and 20 years of age.

 

Weapons awareness seeks to challenge the popular myths and misconceptions that surround knife carrying.

 

Weapons awareness workshops have been running since 1998 and have been successfully used to challenge and alter young people’s attitudes to knives by using real life examples to emphasise the important messages being put across.

 

During the workshops young people will be asked to look at all the implications of arming themselves. This means asking some questions that many young people have never asked themselves, such as:-

 

  • Would you want to kill someone if you used your knife to defend yourself?

 

  • How can you be sure you won’t kill someone?

 

  • How much blood do you have to loose before it will kill you?

 

  • Will the bad guys turn and run if you pull out a knife to defend yourself?

 

  • What is the 3 inch rule?

 

  • What does the law say?

 

  • If someone hurt a member of your family, would you want revenge?

 

 Weapons awareness can be delivered as a preventative measure in schools, youth clubs or other youth groups and is also particularly effective when delivered to small groups of known knife carriers through the Youth Offending Services.

 

Of known knife carriers, only 7.8% of those put on the workshop have re-offended and only 1.7% of those have been armed with a knife again. (Statistics from Newham Youth Offending Team).

 

Knife talk is part of the Be Safe Weapons Awareness Programme which is endorsed by the Home Office and is available right across the U.K.