The Bristol Evening Post is calling for a ban on the sale of samurai swords after reporter Simon Peevers managed to buy one for just £40.

Simon was able to purchase a 70cm sprung steel ceremonial Kung Fu sword from a Bristol shop without question - despite two people being injured in separate attacks involving swords in a month.

Last week a man was hit on the head and nearly has his little finger severed in an incident which has seen a 40-year-old man charged with attempted murder.

Another attack four weeks earlier left a man with a badly injured hand.

The paper led with the story on its front page and inside a comment column read: "We live in increasingly violent times. Where once it was the exception, today it is the rule. There is a greater propensity towards violence than ever before and with it a commonplace use of weapons.

"We are not pretending there was a golden age where people lived free of violence. But we are saying that the stakes have been raised.

"It is simply too easy to get hold of weapons.

"Banning samurai swords from being sold wouldn't rid us of them, but it would limit their availability.

"We need to consider doing this as a matter of urgency."

The Evening Post's call was backed by government minister David Jamieson.

He said: "These are not boy scout pen knives. These things have no place whatsoever being sold in shops.

"I would be very happy to see these things taken off the shelves."

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