Police in Norway's Innlandet district report minors increasingly carry weapons in public. Officers registered 16 cases involving under-18s with illegal weapons over the past year.
Five cases involved illegal weapon possession. Three concerned illegal importation of folding knives. Two cases featured minors photographing themselves with weapons.
Eleven incidents involved illegal weapons in public spaces. One case involved an electroshock weapon. Five cases involved possession of airsoft guns resembling real firearms.
Police prosecutor Johan Martin Welhaven noted these imitation weapons typically look like 9mm pistols. Five public space cases involved weapon-like objects, including one with pepper spray.
Authorities also recorded three threats involving firearms by minors this year. Fourteen cases involved knife threats or threats with sharp objects.
One written threat appeared on a school toilet about using weapons at school. Other cases involved displaying pistols in public and on Snapchat.
Most knife threats occur in schools, parks, or shopping centers. But police say majority of incidents actually happen in private settings.
Violence cases where minors used knives aren't fully counted in these statistics. Threat levels appear stable compared to last year.
New this year is minors increasingly using weapons in threats, though police lack complete data.
In early February, Ringsaker police confiscated a weapon-like object appearing as an electroshock pistol. A teenage boy possessed the item and faces charges for violating weapons laws.
Investigation revealed another teen manufactured and sold the weapon. Both boys aged 15-18 come from Ringsaker and Hamar.
Police take weapon circulation among youth very seriously. Jørgen Berg, police department leader in Brumunddal, stated these weapons create fear regardless of actual harm potential.
Berg emphasized such weapons clearly generate fear. He urged parents to monitor children since objects resembling lighters might actually be weapons.
Police warn manufacturing such items creates significant fire hazards.
The situation reflects concerning normalization of weapons among Norwegian youth, with imitation firearms creating particular alarm in communities.