Shock at weapons seized from kids
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Children as young as eight have been found carrying knives for fear of being attacked.
Police have siezed more than 900 weapons including meat-hooks, knuckle-dusters and even guns from youngsters over the last two years.
The Government is launching a £1 million ad campaign in response but groups working with children say they are struggling through lack of money.
Earlier this year Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the Government was keen to look at the possibility of introducing metal detectors in Britain's toughest schools to crack down on youngsters carrying weapons.
Some teachers have even banned pencil sharpeners from class because pupils were using the blades as weapons.
Ministers are said to be particularly keen to encourage use of detectors in the worst affected cities - Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London, where 27 teenagers were murdered last year.
In recent years the Government has introduced many initiatives aimed at combating violent and gun and knife crime, but so far there appears to be no single effective solution.
A knife amnesty in 2006 resulted in more than 100,000 knives being handed into police forces in England, Scotland and Wales.
But a report by the Metropolitan Police suggested such amnesties would not have a long-term impact on reducing knife crime.
Last February, former prime minister Tony Blair announced he wanted to lower the age at which young people could receive long prison sentences for possessing a gun to 17.
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