this post was submitted on 12 May 2024
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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.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 55 points 6 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] theinspectorst@kbin.social 36 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

The homicide rate in the US is about 6-7 times that in the UK per 100,000 population. I'd take our situation any day of the week.

Last time I looked into this properly, knife crime in the US was actually roughly the same frequency as that in the UK. The difference is that knife-based murders stand out in the UK, whereas in the US nobody pays attention because the problem is dwarfed by the much greater problem of rampant gun crime.

[–] shasta@lemm.ee 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

But if the rate of knife attacks are currently the same, then logically it would make sense that knife attack rate would be much greater in the US than UK if guns were to be banned because some percentage of the current gun crime rate would convert to knife crimes. I guess the US is just a more violent place in general.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Just turn on the tele. In Europe there is a shocking amount of nudity to an American, and in America there is a disturbing amount of violence to a European.

[–] shasta@lemm.ee 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes those are both true. What's your point?

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 months ago

My point is, you don't even need to look up the stats to see that it is true, just turn on the TV. Entertainment and media is a reflection of culture.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

The mass stabbing in Australia the other week had a victim count that wouldn’t even make national news in America, but in Australia it was so bad that the pope commented

[–] BobbyNevada@discuss.tchncs.de 24 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The only way to protect yourself from a bad guy with a sword is a good guy with a spear.

[–] Sizzler@slrpnk.net 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)
[–] BobbyNevada@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 months ago

Narwhal is cool, but do you want to use the good Narwhal on just anyone? I want to use it for special occasions or that certain someone.

[–] Wanderer@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Blades that can kill will never be banned. Therefore it's a problem with the people not with the blades and that's where the solution will lie.

[–] Vilian@lemmy.ca 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

err, they were killed by a sword, this can be banned tho

[–] Specal@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Banning the sword does not delete the sword. It will still exist, killing a person with a sword is already illegal and people still do it. It's a much deeper problem

[–] testfactor@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That is one of the arguments most often used against gun control as well.

[–] Specal@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The difference is people in the UK don't need guns, there's no use for them except "in rural areas". While yeah you can ban swords, the people stabbing people with swords could just as easily switch to kitchen knives . And I don't know how I'm going to chop my veggies if we go down the road of banning every item people use to kill eachother.

The UK has severe mental health issues due to underfunding of health services. We also have severe poverty growth, we have alot of worsening of of situations for people that we need to address.

[–] theinspectorst@kbin.social 6 points 6 months ago

The UK is a society where violent crime is pretty uncommon. The homicide rate in the UK was 1.0 per 100,000 population in 2023. That has been broadly trending downwards in recent decades, after rising during the late 20th century and hitting a peak at c1.8 per 100,000 in 2003. The US is a much more violent society: their homicide rate is around 6.4 per 100,000 population.

Killers are always going to find weapons - if you ban guns they'll find knives, if you ban knives they'll kill with something else. One difference is that a killer on a knife rampage is going to kill a lot fewer people before they're stopped than a killer with a gun. I guess killing with a knife is a more 'involved' act than just pointing a gun and clicking the trigger, so the bar for someone stabbing with a knife is probably a bit higher than killing from several metres away with a gun.

But part of it is a societal thing - my hunch is that (in relative terms) society in the UK and most other rich Western liberal democracies just instills in people an instinctively higher value on human life. You see it in US exceptionalism in use of the death penalty, the frequency of police killings, etc. I don't want to exaggerate the difference - the US still has far fewer murders than Colombia or South Africa or Brazil - but there are other Western countries like Canada or Finland where guns are still pretty widely owned (albeit not quite to the extent of the US) that don't have the same problem of violence as the US.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Why do people in the US not "in rural areas" need guns?

[–] Specal@lemmy.world -1 points 6 months ago

Because how else do they shoot the black folk?

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

First, they came for the Vickers Model 1931, and I said nothing.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Although the number of fatal stabbings has mostly held steady in England and Wales over the past 10 years, headline-grabbing attacks and an overall rise in knife crime have stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more.

Of the 244 fatal stabbings in England and Wales in the 12 months ending with March 2023 — the most recent figures available — 101 were committed with kitchen knives, far surpassing any other type of blade, according to the Office of National Statistics.

But the uptick in knife crime and a steady drumbeat of shocking attacks, including those that killed Ronan Kanda, Daniel Anjorin and three people in Nottingham last year, has pushed the issue to the forefront.

And certain types of blades are already illegal, including switchblades and so-called zombie knives, which come in various sizes, have cutting and serrated edges, and feature text or images suggesting they should be used to commit violence, according to the 2016 law banning them.

The details of stabbing attacks differ, but Pooja Kanda said she sees similarities — chiefly the emotional what-comes-next: bewildered, shattered families, anger that such a thing could happen to a child or anyone again.

The U.K. Home Office said in a statement that crimes with straight swords are rare and were not raised by the police as a specific concern, so officials focused instead on zombie-style knives and machetes in the law that takes effect in September.


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[–] Amoxtli@thelemmy.club -5 points 6 months ago

British government needs to teach everyone what is good and what is bad; teach them how to be nice to one another and hold hands.