DAMMAM, 10 November 2007 — It has become very common to see young people nowadays carrying pocketknives and showing them off. Some people say youngsters carry knives to show their peers how important they are.

Newspapers often report about fights at schools and how pupils are injured and sometimes killed, the Al-Yaum newspaper reported citing studies.

Nur Hamada, a social therapist at Dammam Central Hospital, told Al-Yaum that youngsters carrying knives is a serious problem.

“They carry knives because they are socially unstable and encouraged by their surroundings,” she said, adding, “If there was a strict penal system then youngsters would think twice before carrying knives to schools. Such weapons could be used to attack teachers, something that we hear about often.”

Hamada blames families. “The family is the main foundation where kids are taught discipline and raised properly. If families don’t take care of their children, then they simply go astray,” she said.

“When a father is absent from his son’s life, then the only thing that he cares about is giving his son money and that is it... a son would then try to fill his empty life with anything and would start copying bad behavior from other kids, including smoking and carrying weapons,” said Hamada.

“Many boys that are violent come from bad families. Thus, they grow up to become aggressive,” she added.

A social worker at a government hospital told Al-Yaum that youngsters form gangs due to a sense of deprivation resulting from a lack of parental care.

“They have this peculiar style of clothing. They blindly copy hip-hop style outfits and walk funny. They mimic action movie characters, have tattoos, necklaces and long hair. They think that having a gun or a knife would make their friends accept them,” she said, adding that the media has a role in aggravating the situation.

“In order to clean up our society there needs to be strict punishment. Leaving them unpunished can cause a lot of problems, gradually ending with total chaos in the Kingdom’s cities as there will be no one to interfere or help a victim in the presence of a gun or knife,” she said.

According to the social worker, the best way to prevent knife-related crimes from happening is to increase the number of police patrols and educate children in schools and mosques about carrying weapons.

She added that there was a need for families to keep their children away from violent video games, movies and toys.

Shawqi Al-Hakami, a Saudi youngster, said he keeps some antique weapons in his car. “I don’t plan on using them. I just keep them because I like them.”

When asked why, he said that it adds to his prestige in front of his friends.

Abdul Hameed Al-Saleh, a sales manager at a hotel, said his hotel uses a device to detect weapons.

“Once a weapon is detected, we report it to the police. It does not matter if the owner has permission or not. This has been a precautionary procedure after repeated incidents of individuals interrupting weddings and stuff,” he said.

Um Mushal, 50, said her son was once arrested for possessing a gun.

“It was a gift from a bad friend, who came into his life to misguide him. Ever since that happened, I’ve lost trust in my son, but I can’t do anything but pray for him,” she said.

Another woman blamed violent children on fathers who give their sons full freedom to do whatever they like.

“When they have plenty of money they think they can buy the whole world, even the lives of others. Some youngsters spend days away from home and are not told off,” she said.

Um Adil believes she is the reason behind her son’s bad behavior. “I spoilt him a lot. I used to give him everything his dad prevented him from having. He was my only son and I could not see that I was in fact harming him,” she said.

“Now he is paying the price of my irresponsibility and my unconditioned love. He ended up in jail for possession of firearms, joyriding and drinking,” Um Adil said.