You can’t compare stabbings and shootings
Apr 10, 2013, 6:25 PM
Hey, gun people!
All of you — occasional hunters, target shooters, folks who just feel safer with a weapon around and yes, you proud members of the NRA — I’m going to ask you for a personal favor.
I’m sure, by now you’ve heard about the Texas community college student who went berserk Tuesday stabbing at least 14 people on his campus. Yes, I did say stabbed.
Now here’s the favor: Please, everybody try to avoid making some comparisons between the knife he used and firearms.
I know some of you have already written pieces challenging the gun control people to now consider anything with a blade, an assault weapon that should be banned or to insist that all who buy a Swiss Army knife should be forced into having a background check and several weeks of knife safety training. Before anything as ludicrous as that comes out of your brain, just spare me.
You and I both know that, if the attacker had had a gun, those 14 wounded people would probably be dead and if he had a permit to carry a grenade he could really have messed up the place.
Look, can we just agree that killers can use a lot of different legal weapons to end lives? Guns just seem to do it better.
I’m Pat McMahon.
