There is a thirteen-year-old who ended up in the hospital in Quartu for an argument that perhaps started from a look. A 40-year-old man, in Bosa, risked his life for an argument inside a bar. Two months ago in Bari Sardo a twenty-one-year-old lost his life during the carnival party. In all cases, there was a blade. And it wasn't needed. No one was saved, not even the one who held it.

In Sardinia, as in the rest of the country, a spark is enough to transform an argument into a drama. And the news of the last few weeks tell it very well.

Faced with these episodes, the Carabinieri of Cagliari speak frankly: "Carrying a knife is not safety. It is an unnecessary risk. It is a choice that can ruin two lives in a second."

It is not just a criminal problem, even if the law is clear (Article 4 of Law 110 of 1975 and, for certain types, by the new Article 4-bis introduced with the "Caivano Decree"): up to four years in prison and heavy fines (up to 10 thousand euros) for those caught with a cutting weapon without reason. The penalty increases if the fact occurs, for example, near schools, nightclubs, demonstrations or on public transport. In the worst cases, it is called homicide. But even before justice, there is life, the one that changes when a fight turns into an assault.

This is why the Carabinieri have decided to act: at school, on social media, in the squares. They talk to the kids in the hallways, enter the classrooms, listen, explain and tell what really happens: how you end up in a courtroom, how you explain to a mother that her son has stabbed someone or that he has been stabbed.

Prevention also involves the territory: patrols are not only used to “control”, but to recognize signals, to extinguish anger before it becomes violence. But the first filter is in families: «Do you notice an excessive interest in knives? Stop. Talk about it. Ask. An attentive adult can avoid the irrevocable».

In the meantime, traders are reminded that it is forbidden to sell bladed weapons to minors. Responsibility is collective. Security, an alliance. And in the darkness of certain urban nights, a knife in your pocket may seem like a defense, but in reality it can only become the antechamber of the worst: it does not make you stronger, but makes you more alone.