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Children as young as 12 buying and selling knives and weapons via the internet

The Guardian · 🇬🇧 public United Kingdom · · 484 words · By Nadeem Badshah
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What to know about Children as young as 12 buying and selling knives and weapons via the internet

Children are setting up online businesses selling knives in the same way they trade clothes, the policing and crime minister Sarah Jones has said.

Claims checked 8
Techniques found 3
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left20%
Center60%
Right20%

5 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Children are setting up online businesses selling knives in the same way they trade clothes, the policing and crime minister Sarah Jones has said.

Why it matters

Jones heard how children as young as 12 were buying and selling the weapons on the internet and social media at the opening of the new National Knife Crime Centre in Bloomsbury, central London, on Thursday.

Common ground

She said: “If you look at the current landscape with young people encouraged to set up their own business to buy and sell online, to buy clothes, sell them, make profit, within that landscape, criminals have come into that and gone ‘OK, you can do this by…

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Appeal to Fear, Slogans: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/02/children-as-young-as-12-buying-a…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 3 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Appeal to Fear 80% confidence
Building support by instilling anxiety or panic in the audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing appeal to fear helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.
warning
Slogans 60% confidence
Using a brief, striking phrase to provoke an emotional reaction.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing slogans helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 8 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

help Insufficient Evidence 5
verified Verified By Reference 3
help
Claim 1: “Ministers are reviewing responses to a consultation on the possible introduction of a licensing system for sellers and importers of knives and bladed articles”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in Wikipedia or web search results about ministers reviewing knife licensing consultations. Retrieved sources are unrelated to the claim.
verified
Claim 2: “Police-recorded knife crime was down 9% last year, with 50,430 offences logged in the year to September 2025”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries for 'Criminal record', 'Dream Police', and 'List of songs recorded by the Police' are unrelated to police-recorded knife crime statistics. No relevant evidence found.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — A criminal record (not to be confused with a police record or arrest record) is a record of a person's criminal convictions history. The information included in a criminal record, and the existence of…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_record
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Dream Police is the fourth studio album by American rock band Cheap Trick. It was released in 1979, and was their third release in a row produced by Tom Werman. It is the band's most commercially succ…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Police
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A list of songs recorded by English rock band the Police. Key †, indicates single release
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_recorded_by_the_…
help
Claim 3: “Nikita Kanda's 16-year-old brother was murdered with a ninja sword bought online”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in Wikipedia or web search results about Nikita Kanda's brother or ninja swords. Retrieved sources are unrelated to the claim.
help
Claim 4: “Children who carry knives would be given earlier and more targeted support”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in Wikipedia or web search results about children receiving support for carrying knives. Retrieved sources are unrelated to the claim.
help
Claim 5: “The Crime and Policing Bill, now in its final stages in parliament, plans to crack down on knife crime”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in Wikipedia or web search results about the Crime and Policing Bill's status. Retrieved sources are unrelated to the claim.
verified
Claim 6: “The new government-funded National Knife Crime Centre aims to support police forces in identifying and tackling offenders who sell offensive weapons online”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries for 'British Ironworks Centre', 'Knife Angel', and 'Knife bin' are unrelated to the National Knife Crime Centre. No relevant evidence found.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The British Ironworks Centre & Shropshire Sculpture Park is a forge, silversmiths and sculpture park with a large showroom near Oswestry in Shropshire, England. The centre is famous for its safari par…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Ironworks_Centre_&_Shr…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Knife Angel (also referred to as the National Monument Against Violence & Aggression) is a contemporary sculpture formed of 100,000 knives created by artist Alfie Bradley and the British Ironworks…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_Angel
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — A knife bin, also known as a knife bank, weapon surrender bin, knife amnesty bin or knife amnesty bank, is a place where the owners of knives may dispose of them in a safe and legal way. Knife bins ar…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_bin
help
Claim 7: “Children are setting up online businesses selling knives in the same way they trade clothes”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence found in Wikipedia or web search results that corroborate children setting up online knife businesses. All retrieved sources are unrelated to the claim.
verified
Claim 8: “Children as young as 12 were buying and selling the weapons on the internet and social media”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries for 'Children of Men', 'Disappearance of the Beaumont children', and 'List of people with the most children' are unrelated to claims about children buying/selling knives online. No relevant evidence found.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian action thriller film directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay, based on P. D. James' 1992 novel The Children of Men, was credited to five writers, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jane Nartare Beaumont (born 10 September 1956), Arnna Kathleen Beaumont (born 11 November 1958) and Grant Ellis Beaumont (born 12 July 1961), collectively referred to as the Beaumont children, were th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_the_Beaumont_…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of mothers said to have given birth to 20 or more children and men said to have fathered more than 25 children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_the_most_c…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.