Here we go again. Last week I reported on the inefficacy of China’s strict gun control laws to prevent mass slayings of children in schools. Unfortunately, that was not the end of this horrific spate of violence. There have been two additional attacks, one with a hammer and another with a kitchen meat cleaver…
- Shandong province, April 30, a man armed with a hammer and a can of gasoline attacked and injured five preschool children. Teachers wrestled two children out of his arms as the assailant ignited the gasoline that he had poured over his head.
- Shaanxi province, May 12, Wu Haunming, 48, used a kitchen meat cleaver [not shown] to butcher teachers and children at the Shengshui Temple Kindergarten, killing seven children and two teachers. Eleven other children were hospitalized. Wu was attempting to evict the school from the building he owned. He committed suicide at his home following the attack.
I now count nineteen deaths in five incidents spanning less than two months. That’s an average of 3.8 deaths per incident (a rate of 4.5 if you only count those involving blade weapons). This further demonstrates that knives are more lethal than guns in assaults in confined places such as classrooms. Shootings in American schools since 1966 have averaged 2.3 deaths per incident.
Gun control activists lose the debate when they confuse the tool with the motive.
