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posted by takyon on Saturday June 20 2015, @11:30PM   Printer-friendly

"At some point as a country, we have to reckon with what happens. It's not enough to express sympathy. You don't see this kind of murder, on this scale, with this kind of frequency in other advanced countries on earth." - President Obama.

Discuss.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by timbojones on Sunday June 21 2015, @01:29AM

    by timbojones (5442) on Sunday June 21 2015, @01:29AM (#198878)

    The vast majority of people will be unable to kill 9 people with a knife or a bat before one of the 9 puts a stop to it. Guns are more lethal from longer range.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by tftp on Sunday June 21 2015, @04:33AM

    by tftp (806) on Sunday June 21 2015, @04:33AM (#198937) Homepage

    The vast majority of people will be unable to kill 9 people with a knife or a bat before one of the 9 puts a stop to it.

    Have you ever heard about Oklahoma City bombing [wikipedia.org]?

    Carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the bombing killed 168 people[1] and injured more than 680 others.[2] The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 16-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings,[3][4] causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage.

    The perpetrators had no guns. They had nothing except a moving van full of common fertilizer and common fuel. You'd wish they had guns - they'd kill fewer people that way.

    What would someone like Dylann Roof do if he had no gun? Let's even assume that hunting guns, smooth bores and rifles, are also outlawed. Possibility #0: he'd buy a gun on the black market. Those exist in all countries of the world. Possibility #1: he'd make a firebomb out of a couple of canisters of gasoline. If the exits are blocked, the chance of survival is not very high. Possibility #2: he'd use a poison on something that victims eat, drink, or inhale. Possibility #3: he'd be killing his victims one by one, in dark alleys, with nothing more than a kitchen knife or a bat. Possibility #4: he'd drive a heavy SUV into a crowd. You can see already where that goes - the list of possibilities is endless.

    People say that it's not guns that kill people because indeed it's someone's ill will that kills people. Guns may make it easier for a weakling like this Dylann Roof. But that does not change anything in principle - the real problem is that now and then you have a psycho in the society. That psycho can always get to controls of something large and dangerous and jam them, causing serious issues. You just have to accept that. The actual damage from such psychos is very small in comparison to, say, deaths from smoking. Jack the Ripper killed only five victims - but he is still remembered. This is illogical.

    But imagine that your wish has materialized, and all guns in the country are gone. No criminal can get one, no matter what. You walk in a dark alley, and a few robbers are stopping you. Will you be safe now? Note that they have their fists, their bats, and their knives. Have you ever seen a knife wound? I do not wish you to see one, especially on yourself. A knife is a perfectly silent weapon; it can be easily manufactured; it requires no ammo; it is cheap; it leaves no ballistic fingerprints; it is light and small. Do you really prefer to meet a knife-wielding robber? A gunman cannot shoot you to scare you - it's all or nothing; if he fires, the robbery is over. An attacker with a knife can cut you piece by piece. An attacker with a sword can easily kill a hundred people in closed quarters.