Government is to spend $20,000 on publicising tough new laws handing out jail terms of at least three years for those carrying sharp weapons in public without lawful excuse.

And those carrying such blades on school premises will be jailed for at least five years.

The laws were passed in the Senate yesterday. However, Attorney General Sen. Larry Mussenden said thugs were already plotting to get around the laws by getting different weapons.

He told the Senate: ?They are going into toy shops to buy small bats.? But he said Government would not flinch from amending the law, which now covers articles with a blade or point in a public, to cover dangerous new trends.

Recently the head of Bermuda?s largest landscaping firm suggested banning machetes outright as they were dangerous even when used by gardeners. But Sen. Mussenden said: ?We might ban machetes today, but tomorrow the weapon of choice might change to another weapon with a blade.

?We were shown a variety of weapons seized just this year as a result of reports of assaults and violence.

?They included machetes, short machetes, meat cleavers, fish knives, a swordstick which is a sword pulled out of a hollow cane, large folding knives and some home made heavy iron swords that could knock one unconscious as well as stab through the body.?

A TV campaign warning parents about how baggy clothes could hide objects will be run to publicise the bill which is set to be signed into law by the Governor within the next few days.

Some thugs sow machete pockets inside their jeans said Sen. Mussenden.

Sen. Mussenden said Government had toughened up planned legislation after the recent riot onboard the MV Bermudian.

He said: ?During the last few years we have seen an increase of the use of weapons, violence and assaults.?

He mentioned the incident two years ago at Devonshire Recreation Club where a man swinging a machete chased others across a football field in the middle of the game.

Last year gangs of young people fought with machetes, knives and other weapons on the pitch, interrupting the Friendship Cup Final at Wellington Oval, St. George?s.

Violence and weapons have been seen at summer music concerts.

?(Then) there was last Friday?s horrific ordeal of the fighting and weapons that took place on board the MV Bermudian that was being used for a private cruise,? said Senator Mussenden.

?We will address this totally unacceptable phenomenon of Town and Country violence and weapons.

?Those who choose to break the law as it deals with weapons with blades will have to face the full brunt of the law.

?Machetes have become the weapon of choice, as we see and hear of victims of assault being chopped with a machete.?

The law applies to any article which has a blade or is sharply pointed, except a folding pocketknife with a blade three inches or fewer.

Carrying long sharp weapons will still be legal if it is:

for use at work. Therefore, a gardener carrying his machete to work or a fisherman using his fishing knife will not be committing an offence if the activity is connected to his work. But it will not be a defence if the gardener has his machete around Court Street in the middle of the night while standing in the street;

for use at organised sporting events like karate;

for religious reasons possession of any articles in connection with worship; or

as part of a national costume

There will be even tougher penalties for those with blades on school property. Police officers will be granted a power to enter school premises and search those premises and any person on those premises for any article with a blade or point or any offensive weapon if he has reasonable grounds for believing that an offence has been committed or is being committed.

?We recognised these sentences are among the most severe that this Government has passed into law.

?Parents and guardians must speak to their children before they leave, lest they are faced with the dreadful reality of visiting them in one of the Island?s correctional facilities.?

Government?s hardline approach was given widespread support from Senators from all sides as Government clamps down on rampant gang violence.

Independent Sen. Carol Ann Bassett voiced her support after saying she feared more for her sons in Bermuda than when they were living in North America hearing the sound of gunfire in their neighbourhoods.

She said: ?I will not live in fear and be terrorised in my own country by people who do nothing and add nothing.

?Ordinarily I would not agree with the part of this legislation which takes away flexibility for the judiciary but these are no ordinary times so I say let it roll.?

She said some of thugs wouldn?t listen to the warnings. ?For those I say lock them up.?

Senate President Alf Oughton said the bill would end complaints that Government was soft on crime.