Sword attack in Sweden
Reports are a little confusing at this point, but apparently, some guy in a Star Wars mask went into a school in Trollhattan, Sweden with some edged weapons and killed a teacher and a student and injured another student, according to BBC;
One student told The Local newspaper: “I was in a classroom with my class when one of my classmates’ sisters called her to warn her that there was a murderer at the school. So we locked the door to the classroom, but our teacher was still outside in the corridor.
“We wanted to warn him, so a few of us went outside and then I saw the murderer, he was wearing a mask and had a sword. Our teacher got stabbed.
“The murderer started chasing me, I ran into another classroom. If I had not run, I would have been murdered. I’m feeling really scared. Everyone’s scared here.”
Good guys with guns showed up and shot the fiend who is in surgery. Sky News writes that two other students were also injured.
Category: Who knows
I read there are two dead, one died immediately, one after arriving at the hospital. Three injured, to include the attacker.
My view: There are guns in Sweden, and assholes.
The “gun control” view: “just think how much worse it would have been if he had a machine gun with high-capacity clips and a bayonet lug and pistol grip!”
“And a shoulder thing that goes up.”
But what if it’s got those, those aiming thingies that helps someone shoot somebody from a long ways off?
As I agree with you, I must say that there are very little amount of guns in Sweden.
The Swiss guard is busy defending that Pope guy I think.
Uhh, pretty sure the Swiss Guard are Swiss, not Swedes.
I like ham and swede on rye. Heavy mustard. Mmmmm.
[facepalm]
Can I blame autocorrect? SWEADEN!
Didn’t Gunny Highway kick Swede’s ass once?
Affirmative, Johansson.
Yeah, that’s a whole other country there chief. Lemme give ya the cheat sheet:
Switzerland
Neutral
Guards Pope
Lots of guns, no ammo
Excellent Cheese/Beer/Chocolate/Watches
Holds the worlds non-taxable currency in secret bank vaults
Alps
Sweden
Neutral
Muppet Chef
No guns, no ammo
Decent Chocolate, Terrible Beer
Equality and recycling
Bikini Team & Hockey
Volvo & SAAB
#10 Ibrahimovic
Got it. Like Swedish Hot Chocolate and Swiss Meatballs.
Um, no. They have far more firearms in Sweden than you might think.
Sweden has the third-highest number of firearms per capita in Europe (only Switzerland and Serbia have more – and Serbia’s kind of a special case due to recent hostilities in the Balkans where from their perspective it was pretty much “us against the world”) and the 9th highest in the world. They have 31.6 firearms per 100 people . That’s over 1/4 the per-capita ownership of the US (112.6 per 100 people) and a bit more than Canada, France, and Norway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country
The strong majority of those guns are hunting weapons (long guns), and they all belong to 6.5% of the overall population.
I know that most of the guns in Sweden are hunting rifles. But they are guns and in some parts of the US that is all that the people who live there need to know.
Given the evidence, Sweden also has assholes. Some asshole in Sweden with a sword tried to kill a bunch of people. We have assholes here too. There are assholes everywhere and a few of them try to kill a bunch of people. They DO NOT need a gun to succeed. Performance of their vocation is enhanced when the potential victims are mentally unprepared and have no way to fight back.
Ordinary people sometimes find themselves in circumstances that quickly turn dangerous. The prepared mind and tools assist in survival and defeat of the threat. Many people are unwilling to prepare their mind or use the tools. This is no argument that I should not prepare my mind, no argument to deprive me of tools. Freedom has a price.
True – and irrelevant.
You didn’t specify any type of firearms. You merely said that “there are very little amount of guns in Sweden”. Verified data indicates that is simply not true.
Further, 6.5% of the population is about 1 in 15. I’m guessing that there are a surprising number of areas in the US where less than 1 in 15 people own firearms. Northeastern, CA, and HI suburban areas where crime rates are low and political leanings are liberal would be my guess as to where.
very little guns? I thought everyone had to serve in the military and took their rifles home?
@ DESERT, Et Alii:
Sarcasm?
That’s Switzerland you’re referring to, not Sweden.
I’m thinking it’s the typical, some asylum seeker got denied asylum, and figured if I hurt/kill someone I will go to jail in Sweden. Seems to be the new way to stay in scandi country.
Sword? Star wars mask? What does Anakin have against younglings, anyway?
The latest report includes the killer posing with a couple of students before the attack. The killer was walking in the school in a Darth Vader-like mask and carrying a sword, according to the report. Golly, I don’t see how THAT could have aroused the attention of administrators or caused anyone to question who he was or his business at the school, but we’ll probably learn the particulars later. It all depends on how fast a news cycle will apply to this story.
An obvious failure in Zero Tolerance Policy.
If the school had been posted as a No Sword Zone, this never would have happened.
What now, Sword Control Laws “for the children”? Maybe a mask ban? Maybe it WAS some “Asylum-Seeker” doing what he could both for his “religion” as well as a guaranteed jail co with three hits and a cot at taxpayers’ expense? Lynch Mobs used to be the perfect way to get rid of cowardly shits like that.
Banning Star Wars masks would be easy and could be done quickly. You see, our founding fathers never intended for us to own such things. Hell, they couldn’t even conceive of such a thing as a Star Wars mask, much less the plastic it is made from. Just don’t touch my burqa!
The funny thing is that there are plenty of schools here that have a mask ban. When my kids have their school Halloween party they are not allowed to wear masks.
The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints (i.e., the “Mormon” church) does not permit masks to be worn at any of their parties or celebrations.
They also forbid firearms on Church property (except for police officers), a policy I regard as asinine, foolish, immoral, and irresponsible, and a denial of a commandment of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, who is the Christ.
I suspect many Latter-day Saints, including myself, ignore that rule.
Police at Brigham Young University refuse to enforce it.
But Sweden is a peaceful country and these things never happen in any of those European socialist countries !!!
They are so much better than the US is !!!
Outlaw Darth Vader costumes, that’ll fix it !!!
All this in a “No Sword Zone”
Killing school children in a large scale attack isn’t new, look up the Bath School Disaster to see how a man in the 1920s killed about 40 kids with a bomb….
Lunatics don’t need guns, they need motivation and opportunity. There’s no stopping them if they act alone and don’t reveal their intentions. That’s the part that makes most people uncomfortable, most folks think there’s some way to prevent this stuff when the reality is there is no way to stop a determined attacker.
None of us have any control over these events, no matter what we think, no matter whether we have a gun in our pocket or not. Every single one of us can be surprised and killed. Chris Kyle is a classic example of how easily you can die regardless of how well prepared or trained you think you are. I’m not suggesting preparation is a waste of time, I’m only stating the obvious that control is an illusion. Failing to recognize the illusion is intentionally blinding oneself to the reality of life and death.
Your handgun doesn’t stop a bomb, your handgun doesn’t stop a sniper, and your hand gun doesn’t stop someone from getting you in the back. Thinking we will make schools impenetrable or safe with a police officer on site is a good preparatory move but it’s not a panacea fix for the problem.
There is no fix for the problem.
Asking why mad men kill is like asking why the earth rotates, regardless of the answer there’s no changing it or stopping it…it’s just how it is.
You are correct in many of your assertions, that someone anonymously determined cannot be anticipated. Protection agencies such as the Secret Service’s details apparently say the hardest ‘one’ to protect against is the one who doesn’t care if they get away – they just want to get their own licks in, whether via gun, bomb, etc. and don’t have or want an exit strategy.
Where I disagree is with your implication that because you cannot protect against everything, you should just give up and try to protect against nothing. No, a pistol would not necessarily be the weapon of choice against a sniper (although any decent pistol shot can bounce a soda can at 100 yards and should certainly be able to lay down some suppressing fire) bit I can swear from personal experience one works well in deterring a couple of drunk assholes bent on “messing with” my girlfriend. Can I protect against all eventualities? Of course not, and anyone rational knows it. Can I do what I can to protect me and mine from the vicissitudes of life? I am not only able to, by my moral code I am OBLIGATED to, lest I fail my loved ones in my capacity as father, husband, and yes, protector.
Not what I said, I never said to just lay down. My point was rather poorly articulated that these events will continue as they have because there is no stopping them.
It doesn’t mean I don’t expect us to be prepared, my point was regardless of the preparation some evil will prevail from time to time.
Agree 100% with that.
Thanks for understanding bro, sometimes I get too heated and fail to articulate the point I actually wanted to make….I appreciate the heads up I was off a bit in my post!
“any decent pistol shot can bounce a soda can at 100 yards”
I call bullsh!t on that statement. Not one pistol owner in a hundred can hit a soda can at 100 yards. The only way that statement can possibly be true is if you define a “decent pistol shot” as someone who can hit a can at 100 yards. Heck, your typical pistol owner would be lucky to hit a soda can at 100 inches. I would define someone who can hit a beer can at 100 yards as a dmned fine pistol shot, and a rare person indeed.
As far as laying down suppressing fire, Joe Biden says that should be done with shotguns.
All true, but I would rather have the ability to defend myself available than be told I must be a sitting duck.
You are NOT defenseless if you don’t have a gun. YOU are the weapon; the gun is only a tool. And as the man in this story unfortunately proved, sharp, pointy things make very good weapons.
You are right VOV, and until the “lawmakers” recognize this fallacy, they will continue trying to march us down the path of control and they will soon be forced to pursue medical neural implant technology.
I am not a tin foil hat guy, but when all their other pie-in-the-sky “prevention” laws fail (as they will), what else is there logically to conclude?
Acknowledging the truth of what you wrote above is the only sane way out of this experiment.
stike: “soon be forced” and replace with “ultimately be forced” above.
Hear, hear. And the sooner we accept the impossibility of eliminating all the risks life throws at us, the sooner we can get on with living well instead of living under an illusionary bubble of ‘safety’.
Jefferson said he prefers a dangerous freedom to a peaceful servitude, I understand the implications of that and I agree with his outlook!
Bernie Sanders wants to live like those in Sweden, Norway and other like Viking villages.
…raping and pillaging our pocketbooks.
“Wots in yer wallet?”®™
Sanders for President 2015
I thought it was “Bernie wants yer wallet” – sorta like “Willie wants yer wallet” from around 20 years ago.
I do like edged weapons. And it never hurts to watch the stylized forms, because it shows you the length, balance, and timing of the sword:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2SMpXPV3A
PN. I’ll see your Chinese swordsman and raise you one Filipino knife fighter. Me, I want a gun, a steady hand, and a lot of distance.
The Filipinos are wicked with their blades, aren’t they? Pure poetry — as long as you’re not the one they’re carving on.
I don’t want to jack the thread with talk of blades, but there’s a video of two men in England who fight with broadswords. It reinforces you’re desire for ‘distance,’ that’s for sure!
Gurka.
He who lives by the sword…
gets shot.
Saw a very interesting demonstration of the use of the broadsword by a Brit authority on the subject… forget the massive swing and slash you see in the movies, he kept it tight and moved FAST. There’s a reason they were the weapon of choice for centuries.
Wholeheartedly agree on edged weapons… they take a lot of practice but sure are effective, practically and psychologically.
I guess Viking re-enactments are off the list of ‘things to do next summer’?
I agree with VOV. Being prepared is an asset, but it does not mean that you will never be taken by surprise.
While the prepared mind does stand the best chance of survival, the majority of people are sitting ducks for this kind of thing and when it happens, too many of them just give up and wait for death.
These whack jobs know it and take advantage of it. Even worse, too many people don’t want to talk about it. They just want it to go away. They seldom want to discuss how to react to it, to try to stop the damage.
Laws and prohibitions will never stop these people, nor will locked doors, signs saying ‘go to the ——-‘s office’, ‘gun free zone’, etc.
The wargs are at the door. What are you going to do about it?
oh Noooooooooooooo ! ! ! !
BAN KNIVES
BAN
ALL
SCARY
KNIVES
Only if they’re black, high capacity “assault knives”.
It was a good gun and obviously not an assault gun. Give that gun a metal. Good guns saves lives.
Was it one of those Scary Black Assault Swords?
Given the basic article and subsequent discussion, this just seems apropos here today.
Now if only Carol will do that to that asshole Morgan on Walking Dead the show would be almost perfect about the zombie apocalypse….one of my stupid guilty pleasures.
This story is done. Over. And Master Chief, when I wrote “Over” I didn’t mean over over. I meant over, as in finished, but it might be resurrected for this reason: police are quoted in a UK paper as saying that the attack was racially motivated–this despite the fact that there was no Confederate battle flag found at the scene. Out.