13 Dead in Shooting in Thousand Oaks California

[EricHiggin]

HandofPrometheus said:
The knife argument makes no sense. Guns can have a higher death toll within seconds compared to a knife. Knives recuire an actual strength to successfully kill someone in one blow not to mention physical contact. No one is killing 13 people in a bar with one knife especially in a crowd. Someone would at least intervene the knife wielder or the person getting stabbed is fighting back (possibly). Guns catch people unaware.

Guns have a higher death toll depending on how many bullets they can shoot in a certain amount of time, how many people are around, how those people react, how well the shooter handles the gun, etc. A knife never jams btw and you don't need to reload it. People at a bar/club/concert, where it's typically dark and loud, people are drunk, people are clumsy and sometimes falling down, people get date raped more often because they aren't paying as much attention, getting in fights, etc. All these reasons and more make it extremely likely that someone could walk in and start stabbing people, especially in the back, and continue through a bunch before anyone else realizes what's going on. If nobody in the bar has a weapon, are you going to confront the person with the knife? Why would anyone else? Wait until they go for someone else across the room and run is what most would do.

If you were going to try and take as many people out as possible, and you felt you wouldn't come close to achieving your goal, that's when crazy people start to think in terms of strength in numbers. If you can't win a war because the enemy has better weapons, then you make sure you have way more soldiers to throw at them. If you can't kill enough people, find more killers. Bullets don't always hit a point that instantly kills you, or necessarily kills or terribly harms you, and someone who knows how to use a knife to kill, can be highly effective in a very short period of time. Why bother trying to set up a group for a mass shooting and potentially get caught, when you can just buy some guns? Well if you take those guns away, now the risk is worth it, and you start to see groups of crazies stabbing in mass killings.

America is not like other nations, and assuming banning guns will just make the problem go away is naive. America lives and breathes war, and guns go along with that. Part of American culture is fighting for what you believe in. Politically if possible, but if that doesn't work, then the most effective weapons will do the trick. Just look at the Countries history in terms of wars. American citizens fought those battles, and weren't forced to, using mostly American weapons. Trying to calm America, is like trying to get an alcoholic to stop drinking, or a druggy to stop using, or a smoker to stop smoking. Now for those individuals, one of the best ways to help cure them, is to ease them off the substance. You don't just stop cold turkey because that can actually make things much worse. You also have to understand, that the large majority, still drinks alcohol, smokes tobacco, or hits the bong, yet are able to go about their daily lives with next to no issues.

Last edited by EricHiggin - on 09 November 2018