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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Brenda Lowing wants to know how it's possible that her 12-year-old son was able to purchase a number of menacing-looking knives from a local variety store.

12-year-old Bryne Lowing was able to purchase these knives from a local store without any questions, according to his parents. - Andrew Livingstone/NNSL photo

Lowing was shocked to find almost $100 in products, from double-bladed knives to a baton, in her son Bryne's possession earlier this month. She said he was able to purchase the items at Crystal Sensations in Centre Square Mall without any questions asked about his age.

"He just assumed I was old enough," Bryne said. "I don't look that old."

Lowing was concerned that her son was able to buy these things so easily.

"The biggest thing that disturbed me about it is that he's 12-years-old and he was able to walk in and buy whatever he wanted," Lowing said.

"He pretty much had run of the store. My biggest fear was he thought he needed them for something. But he just wanted them because he could."

Store owner Chun Kwok Law said his policy is not to sell the knives he has on display to anyone under the age of 16. Law said he doesn't check identification when selling products.

"I can tell (their age) just by my own observation," he said.

According to Law, the concern over the products is a big misunderstanding.

"Most of the product is only for display, most of them are not sharp," he said. "Hand knives are not really sharp. Only some people criticize the points on them.

"When I open this shop, people thought there must be a lot of criminals coming here. It's a misunderstanding. Most of them are collectors."

Law said the product quality is low-grade, not made for hurting people.

What bothers Lowing is that the types of problems youth face today - particularly bullying and violence - can convince them to carry such weapons for protection.

"Some kids get hot-headed and they'll grab the first thing to defend themselves," she said.

"It scares the crap out of me knowing that there might be kids his age, maybe younger, carrying these things around with them."

Law said people will find other ways to injure someone other than the products from his store.

"They can get sharp knives in the kitchen," he said. "If they want to injure someone they can use piece of iron bar.

"When you read the paper you don't read about people using big swords."

RCMP Const. Roxanne Dreilich said there is nothing illegal about carrying a knife, as long as it is within the legal parameters, including its size and the way it opens. Questions may be raised by law enforcement officers on a case-by-case basis.

"For the most part it's at the discretion of the officer to assess the situation and look at why the person had it, if they were using it in a threatening manner," Dreilich said. "Depending on the circumstances, if somebody has a non-restricted pocket knife but have it for an intent that is dangerous to the public, it can be confiscated."

An illegal knife in Canada is one that opens automatically by gravity or by pressure applied to a button, spring or other device that causes it to open, like switchblades and butterfly knives.

While this doesn't apply to any of the merchandise at Crystal Sensations, Rod Lowing, Bryne's father, said it's irresponsible for the store owner to be selling these products to kids. "They see it in the movies and on TV and they think it's cool, so they want to buy it," he said.

"These have no purpose at all except for hurting people. Kids under the age of 18 shouldn't be able to buy that kind of material."