Ten Ring is not really a newslinks blog--there are many other sources for that--but every now and again Bill or I see a bit of news that we must share.
The other day, there was another school shooting. It's the most recent violence in a long string of school stabbings and shootings. Yet our media has been silent on it. I stumbled on the story in the BBC. It happened in China.
China has had a real problem lately with people killing or injuring school children with knives. The story's sidebar mentions a horrific knife attack that left eight children dead. In two attacks on the same day one madman hurt 28 children and another hurt 24 children the same day (I don't have enough information to discuss the number of deaths).
In this latest attack, a man entered a school and began shooting children with homemade guns despite increased school security. He wounded sixteen children. A passerby helped chase the man off, although the gunman hit him with one of his homemade guns (maybe the shooter was out of ammo). The perpetrator escaped and police are looking for him.
I have several feelings about this story. First, there's the horror that anyone would attack children especially since there are so many attacks recently. Second, there's the curiosity that it would happen in a police state like China. Third, there's a realization that there's a lesson here for gun banners.
China has gun control and yet a man was able to make his own guns and carry out an attack. There's not enough detail to know how sophisticated his guns were, what kind of ammunition he used, or how he got the ammunition and raw materials. It's conceivable that his ammo was also homemade.
Gun control doesn't stop knife attacks--that almost goes without saying. Gun control doesn't prevent a lunatic from attacking school children. A corollary is simple, guns don't cause school shootings and guns don't cause knife attacks. People carry out these attacks using tools available to them.
Here's another lesson for would-be gun banners. Even if guns are banned or tightly controlled as they are in China, people will get guns. They will make them at home, or organized crime will make or smuggle them to supply a black market.
A simple gun is an easy thing to make; a nail, some tubing, a spring, and a shotgun shell is all it takes. Someone with access to machine tools and experience can make a very good firearm.
My advice for gun banners out there: give it up. Guns aren't the problem; bad people are the problem. Society needs a way to identify these people and police are necessary for security. But, even in a police state, the police cannot be there to protect you. People must be able to defend themselves when evil ones attack. The best tool for self-defense is a gun. Quite a conundrum for gun banners isn't it?
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