Staffs, Hammers and whips oh my...Follow

I want to use these weapons as a scout just to see the out come and the ones I like the most. But every time I find a hammer or a staff (haven't found any whips yet, I've seen a scout with one equipped though) it is alway red and i don't have enough skill to use it, and these weapons are low lvl weapons to boot. I'm I missing something here.. How can i raise the weapon skill, if I can't even equip a low lvl one. Unless I'm misinterpreting the dmg of
1-3 in red, thinking thats low enough for me to be able to equipped it.

Thanks in advance for the replies.