A quick search on eBay UK yesterday offered a choice of 2,239 knives, including 279 daggers and 117 swords.

Jungle survival knives, medieval Chinese dragon blades, ninja style throwing knives and axes — a shopping list that makes for frightening reading as it shows just how readily available these potentially lethal weapons actually are.

If that choice is not extensive enough then there are another 50,000-plus blades available on the US eBay site.

The government may have brought in new legislation to clamp down on those selling knives to under 18s, but who needs to buy one in a store when with a click of the mouse the lethal accessory can be ordered — without any awkward questions?

Often after a fatal stabbing the media is saturated with headlines about rising knife culture and street violence.

Such murders, like that of respected businessman Billy Spence in Bangor on Monday and 16 year-old Ben Kinsella in London at the weekend, are usually followed by demands for the authorities to crack down on knife-wielding thugs by introducing measures such as the introduction of metal detectors in schools and other public places and extending the powers of stop and search on the streets.

Human rights groups and children's charities would likely view these measures as draconian and a breach of human rights. Many others, however, argue that knife culture is now such a serious problem that only the toughest measures staunch it.

Some would say a lot of this is down to media hysteria and the problem is not as chronic and out of control as we are at times led to believe.

Government statistics show that more than 450 young people in Northern Ireland have been threatened and injured with knives in the last five years. Just over 100 attacks on youths aged under 18 happened in the last year.

Belfast is the worst affected area for knife crime, with rural districts like Moyle and Magherafelt relatively untouched.

There is nothing new about young people trying to boost their street cred by carrying a blade. Less than a generation ago flick knives would have been readily available in playgounds.

But, according to the family of west Belfast greengrocer Harry Holland, those carrying knives now are prepared to use them.

"There is a minority of young people going around equipped with knives and screwdrivers and they are quite prepared to use them. We as a community need to look very closely at the nature and extent of knife crime and what can be done about it," said Mr Holland's sister Geraldine McAteer.

It is extremely difficult to calculate just how many people walking the streets are carrying a knife.

Not everyone who carries one intends to use it as a weapon. Many are now arming themselves with knives believing they need some sort of protection.

Whether knife crime is out of control or not it is still a valid question, but the fact is that people are still being killed, maimed, robbed and threatened with knives.

But what can be done?

The PSNI already has powers to stop and search a member of the public if they have cause to suspect they may be carrying a weapon. Officers have mounted a number of successful operations using these powers where they have confiscated a number of blades.

Police have also launched a number of knife amnesties over the past few years when hundreds of blades were handed in.

And the Government recently doubled the length of sentences that can be passed for those caught with a knife.

But still with hundreds of victims of knife crime none of this is enough.

Tougher regulations on shops and internet sites could make it more difficult for young people to purchase them — but anyone with sinister intentions will easily be able to get their hands on one.

The Government could increase stop and search powers so that more knives could be taken off the streets before they are used. But the police cannot search everyone 24 hours a day.

The judiciary surely has a responsibility to be tough on offenders and to send out a clear message that knife crime will not be tolerated.

Penny Holloway, the mother of schoolboy Thomas Devlin who was stabbed to death on his way home from buying sweets with his friends, has often insisted that the courts need to be harsh with knife offenders.

"We have suffered the loss of our son through knife crime. The Prosecution Service and the courts have to make an example of people and to let people know that carrying a knife and knife crime will not be tolerated," she said.

But prevention is better than cure and it would be much better to stop young people carrying the knives in the first place than trying to confiscate the blades later.

This can only be do through education and with a concerted effort from parents, teachers and all those who have an influence on young people.