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
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    6 months ago

    It seems to me that politicians on one side in the U.S. are against a social safety net and gun control and the other side are in favor of a social safety net and gun control. So your argument really doesn’t make much sense. Who are these politicians who are pro-universal healthcare but anti-strengthening gun regulations?

    • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      6 months ago

      You’re missing the point, none of them really want the social safety nets, that would kill the wedge issue. Keeping people arguing about gun control drives political engagement and votes. Both parties have a vested interest in not resolving the issue. Actually solving the problem would be a nightmare for them.

      Look, if you want to spend the rest of your life watching your elected officials chase symptoms in order to drum up funds and votes, go right ahead. Just don’t say you weren’t warned when you let them get away with it.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        none of them really want the social safety nets

        Many bills that have been submitted suggest otherwise.

        • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          6 months ago

          And how did those bills go?

          Congress loves to let issues fester to garner attention and drum up support. They’ve been fucking around with the debt ceiling for decades to do that, and that’s a problem that they create from whole cloth.

          The political will of the populace to make real changes to address the root causes of homicide are squandered by focusing on the weapons used. Want to see those bills pass? Don’t buy into the dog and pony show that is gun control.

          If you really, truly believe that banning guns is the silver bullet to solving homicides get the second amendment repealed. All the half measures that get thrown out time and time again are usually unconstitutional and doomed to fail, they’re just there to keep the public engaged.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            6 months ago

            So… you’re saying that because Democratic bills put forward to increase the safety social net get voted down by Republicans, Democrats don’t want a social safety net?

            gun control.

            banning guns

            And here is where I know you are not here in good faith. You are conflating the two as if they were the same thing, or that everyone who proposes the former actually wants the latter.

            • Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              6 months ago

              Ok?

              Tell yourself whatever makes you feel better about getting played by political candidates.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                6 months ago

                I’ll tell myself that ‘gun control’ and ‘banning guns’ are not the same thing and never will be, no matter how much people like you dishonestly try to conflate them.