A familiar horror reached Pooja Kanda first on social media: There had been a sword attack in London. And then Kanda, who was home alone at the time, saw a detail she dreaded and knew all too well.

A man with a sword had killed a 14-year-old boy who was walking to school. Two years ago, her 16-year-old son, Ronan, was killed by two sword-wielding schoolmates while walking to a neighbor’s to borrow a PlayStation controller.

“It took me back,” Kanda, who lives near Birmingham, said about Daniel Anjorin’s April 30 killing in an attack in London’s Hainault district that also wounded four people. “It’s painful to see that this has happened all over again.”

In parts of the world that ban or strictly regulate gun ownership, including Britain and much of the rest of Europe, knives and other types of blades are often the weapons of choice used in crimes. Many end up in the hands of children, as they can be cheap and easy to get.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
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    5 months ago

    In parts of the world that ban or strictly regulate gun ownership, including Britain and much of the rest of Europe, knives and other types of blades are often the weapons of choice used in crimes. Many end up in the hands of children, as they can be cheap and easy to get.

    Before people come in and use this as an argument against gun control, these attacks kill far fewer people per attack.

      • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The fun thing about the US is that the people opposed to dealing with the symptom are also usually opposed to dealing with the disease.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Right? I’ve long said that Democrats should just pivot and say, “Okay you don’t want to work on getting guns out of the hands of criminals? Okay whatever. You agree part of this is a result of mental health? Okay, then let’s pass Universal healthcare with guaranteed access to therapy and more.”

      • lennybird@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Last I checked, physicians must treat both symptoms and diseases simultaneously. E.g., the Shock. The bleeding. The excess fever.

        Similarly there’s no reason both cannot be tackled simultaneously here as well; for the root cause is often far more difficult to address than treating symptoms.

        So yes, address the root causes such as:

        • Reducing societal stress (reduce work weak, lower socioeconomic inequality)
        • Expand and improve baseline education levels
        • Provide Universal healthcare with free access to mental health including therapy.

        … But also address the symptoms, which means that when someone does inevitably fall through the cracks, they’re not given free and easy access to gun that is lethally more effective than a knife.