There have been 157 deaths in London between the years 2005-2013. It is shocking to believe that 105 people have been stabbed; 30 have been shot; 13 have been beaten ; 2 have been burnt; 3 have been strangled and 4 have fallen into the others category. In this speech I am going to be exploring why teenagers carry weapons, what the reasons are for them to resort to carrying these weapons and what we could do to prevent this.

 

Teenagers tend to carry weapons around for many different reasons such as: self-protection (if they feel they are likely to get approached by someone they’re afraid of), gang activity and in some cases, simply because they are easy to access. People are often shocked at the high statistics of knife crime and I was shocked and dis made at the figures behind this. It is outrageous to believe why so many teenagers carry lethal weapons. Maybe it is because they are forced to or have no choice but to use these dangerous weapons.

 

However using these weapons is clearly not the only solution to problems. If police catch anybody in possession of a knife, they can be put into prison for  up to 6 months! It doesn’t matter whether they use the knife or not, just it being in your possession can put people in a lot of trouble.

 

Have you ever been threatened? Have you ever witnessed knife crime? Have you ever been stabbed? Or have you received a death note? If yes then you are more likely to carry a harmful weapon. This is because you’ve had an unpleasant feeling. You have experienced terror and you’re most likely to be scared and want to protect yourself. The first thing teenagers think to do is protect themselves. Carry such weapons. Risk their lives. They do not think of the consequences of their actions They do not stop and think, what if I get caught or what if I get into big trouble, what will happen then? Teenagers tend to keep their problems to themselves and act anti-social. The best thing to do is ask for advice, just sit down and speak to a mature adult. Try to get the problem sorted out.

 

Peer pressure. Peer pressure is another reason why teenagers carry weapons. Peer pressure influences people to do things they may not like or want to do. Their friends do it so they feel they have to carry a weapon in order to fit into their social group. Teenagers are so petrified of being forsaken by friends that they will do absolutely anything (even break the law) to be accepted by their peers. This is wrong. Teens shouldn’t have to give into peer pressure or feel intimidated by their friends. Most teenagers know the difference between good and bad. They have a conscience. Most teens determine to ignore what they know is wrong and allow themselves to be influenced by peers.

On the 7th of December 2013 a photographer named Adam Patterson began photographing London gang leader, “Vipoh”. This was shown in the newspaper “The Guardian”. The figure of knife crime in London was 14,192 in 2007-8 but significantly decreased to 11,376 in 2012-13. Whilst being interviewed, Adam Patterson asked why he carries knives and other weapons. Vipoh replied “ To make me look intimidating, so others will be afraid of me”. When he was young and was new to this way of life he chose the name ‘Vipoh’, his close friends told him that somebody was looking for him because his “tag” (the name he goes by) was similar. Vipoh was horrified and didn’t know what to do. He went down the wrong path. When the boy and a couple of his friends approached Vipoh, he brought out his knife and the bunch of boys were afraid so they left Vipoh alone. That was probably the most significant decision that he was forced to make. The clear impact to this is that he lived a life of a teenage boy committing crimes and getting involved in gang violence. This is an example of why teenagers carry weapons.

 

Male teenagers are much more antisocial and are much more likely to carry weapond than females are. This is because boys dislike expressing their emotions and feelings. They tend to take matters into their own hands rather than speaking  to somebody about their problems or worries. One solution for a possession of weapon crime is to think before you act (be careful of the decision you’re making); think of the consequences of your actions. The second solution is to speak to a person or a specialist about your problems. Also we should enforce more severe laws on the possession of such weapons. Deterance must be established to address this problem of dangerous weapons. People will be too worried to have them in the first place let alone use them. Prevent is better than cure. We should all put down the weapons of death.