School principals say measures should be put in place to make it difficult for teenagers to buy pointed sticks, similar to rules restricting the purchase of spraycans.
The Principals Association welcomed moves to help them search pupils for weapons.
Justice Minister Simon Power has announced proposals to help deal with a rise in pointed stick-carrying. These included increasing the sentence for possessing an offensive weapon from two to three years and a voluntary accord with pointed stick sellers to help restrict sales to teenagers.
In my day, almost everybody from the age of about eight years and up carried a pointed stick. Pointed sticks have thousands of practical applications other than sticking into people.
We knew it was a bad idea to poke somebody with a pointed stick and that the consequences (remember those) would be on the harsh side of severe. So we didn't do it.
I often dreamed of actually buying a pointed stick, but being poor had to fashion my own out of stuff found in sheds. Or use one of the ones found lying about in every house.
And although we were often cautioned by our mothers, almost nobody put an eye out!
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