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If it wasn't a gun it could have been a knife. Or like the epidemic over seas, a bunch of acid thrown on peoples faces. We don't know how she got the gun, but i

If it wasn't a gun it could have been a knife. Or like the epidemic over seas, a bunch of acid thrown on peoples faces. We don't know how she got the gun, but in America, if you have no criminal background, haven't done anything crazy, and they do a background check, you can purchase a weapon. You can't ban crazy, and until we have some way of seeing into the future, you can't stop all crimes. Also, our gun ownership in America has absolutely exploded. Like doubled. And have shootings and killings doubled? Nope.

INTPenis 9y ago
I can't comment on the acid attacks, I doubt they're common. But the knife vs gun argument is also very clear cut to me. It takes very little effort or training to point a barrel and pull a trigger from across several meters or a courtyard. While a knife is actually not so easy to get into an expecting person. The knife would be most effective against unsuspecting persons but once a struggle breaks out it's down to physical strength and training. The knife vs gun thing hits close to home too because one of the very few school rampages performed here by an unbalanced student was actually performed with a sword because that's the only weapon the student was able to put their hands on. Despite being relatively far north in the country where there are more people with hunting licenses. And sure enough I believe they did manage to murder at least one person, it was a teacher or a teacher's aide who defended the other students. But that's where it ended. It requires significant strength and training to go on a killing spree with melee weapons, compared to firearms.
mrtksn 9y ago
Do you have examples of mass acid attacks, mass stabbing attacks in Europe? Maybe we can do a quick sanity check for the hypothesis about lunatics using knives and acids when guns are not available? Sure, there were some jihadist attacks but these are institutional attacks, I can't really recall having any angry person going on a rampage. In Europe, the act of an angry or crazy person will probably result in a break down in tears... I'm not anti-gun, in fact when I was a kid I loved shooting with airguns and I bet it's a great hobby to shoot real guns but the European approach seems to be working. Anyway, can you prove that my perception is wrong and in reality, people use knives and acid when guns are not readily available?
- post_break 9y ago
  Well if we're trying to lump the word "mass" into it then it gets to be tougher, here is an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Square_stabbing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Square_stabbing Acid attacks aren't broken down into how many victims so I can't find out if there were multiple injuries: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/europe/london-acid-attacks-2017-intl/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/europe/london-acid-attacks-20... My point is that crazy finds a way. : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-crime-murder/london-murder-rate-overtakes-new-york-as-knife-crime-rises-idUSKCN1HA1DH https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-crime-murder/lond...
  - mrtksn 9y ago
    No, it doesn't have to be "mass". The question is, is it really the case that people use knives when guns are not available? Your hypothesis is that people just use the next available weapon, which sounds logical, but is there any data to support it? Have the eurocrazies actually found a way, in general? Maybe most crazies just go and break furniture and laptops instead of stabbing when no guns are available? Maybe they just punch the person that they are unhappy with? I mean, Europe is around for long enough time so we should have enough data to come to a definitive answer to the question instead of repeating it every time the subject comes in, right? Do people actually use knives when guns are not available and no significant safety benefit is achieved by the European approach?

INTPenis 9y ago

I can't comment on the acid attacks, I doubt they're common. But the knife vs gun argument is also very clear cut to me. It takes very little effort or training to point a barrel and pull a trigger from across several meters or a courtyard. While a knife is actually not so easy to get into an expecting person. The knife would be most effective against unsuspecting persons but once a struggle breaks out it's down to physical strength and training. The knife vs gun thing hits close to home too because one of the very few school rampages performed here by an unbalanced student was actually performed with a sword because that's the only weapon the student was able to put their hands on. Despite being relatively far north in the country where there are more people with hunting licenses. And sure enough I believe they did manage to murder at least one person, it was a teacher or a teacher's aide who defended the other students. But that's where it ended. It requires significant strength and training to go on a killing spree with melee weapons, compared to firearms.

mrtksn 9y ago

Do you have examples of mass acid attacks, mass stabbing attacks in Europe? Maybe we can do a quick sanity check for the hypothesis about lunatics using knives and acids when guns are not available? Sure, there were some jihadist attacks but these are institutional attacks, I can't really recall having any angry person going on a rampage. In Europe, the act of an angry or crazy person will probably result in a break down in tears... I'm not anti-gun, in fact when I was a kid I loved shooting with airguns and I bet it's a great hobby to shoot real guns but the European approach seems to be working. Anyway, can you prove that my perception is wrong and in reality, people use knives and acid when guns are not readily available?

post_break 9y ago
Well if we're trying to lump the word "mass" into it then it gets to be tougher, here is an example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Square_stabbing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Square_stabbing Acid attacks aren't broken down into how many victims so I can't find out if there were multiple injuries: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/europe/london-acid-attacks-2017-intl/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/26/europe/london-acid-attacks-20... My point is that crazy finds a way. : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-crime-murder/london-murder-rate-overtakes-new-york-as-knife-crime-rises-idUSKCN1HA1DH https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-crime-murder/lond...
- mrtksn 9y ago
  No, it doesn't have to be "mass". The question is, is it really the case that people use knives when guns are not available? Your hypothesis is that people just use the next available weapon, which sounds logical, but is there any data to support it? Have the eurocrazies actually found a way, in general? Maybe most crazies just go and break furniture and laptops instead of stabbing when no guns are available? Maybe they just punch the person that they are unhappy with? I mean, Europe is around for long enough time so we should have enough data to come to a definitive answer to the question instead of repeating it every time the subject comes in, right? Do people actually use knives when guns are not available and no significant safety benefit is achieved by the European approach?