School shooting, Japanese style.

[Perd Hapley]

I just heard about this story on the news:

14 Hurt in Knife Attack At Train Station in Japan


In searching for the story, though I found this, older story:


Frenzied schoolyard knife attack shocks Japan
 - Friday, 8 June , 2001  00:00:00
Reporter: Mark Simkin

MARK COLVIN: The names of Dunblane in Scotland and Columbine High in the United States are joined in infamy today by a new name - Ikeda, near Osaka in Japan.

It was there today that a mentally disturbed man murdered eight school children aged between six and eight. It happened at an elementary school, and during the frenzied attack the man stabbed at least 26 children and three teachers.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s310420.htm

Now that's very interesting. 

Firstly, those seem like the kind of casualties one sees from a mass shooting.  Could it be that guns are not the only terrible, awful weapons that can be used to inflict mass murder? 

Secondly, The New York Times actually seems to get it.  Or at least for that first paragraph.  They acknowledged that a knife attack was on a level with an attack with guns.  So, banning guns won't protect us from wacked-out crazies.   

[Manedwolf]

This is what happens when you ban the Samurai from carrying blades!

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

they have sword control too. doesn't help

[Manedwolf]

they have sword control too. doesn't help

Since 1876. That is what I was referring to. Google "Haitorei Edict".

BTW, not a train station...Akihabara! Electric Town! That's supposed to be a totally safe area!

TOKYO  (FOX)   A reported Japanese gangster went on a midday stabbing rampage in Tokyo's premier electronics and video game district Sunday, knifing at least 17 people. A news report said at least three of the victims were dead.

The attack at lunchtime in the Akihabara district, known as Electric Town and wildly popular with Japan's cyber-wise youth, paralyzed the area and drew at least 17 ambulances. TV footage showed rescue workers tending to victims in the street.

Reports said the attacker grunted and roared as he slashed and stabbed at his victims on a street crowded with shoppers.

Toshiyuki Miyake, a spokesman for the Tokyo Fire Department, said that five of the victims had gone into cardiac arrest, but he could not confirm any deaths. National broadcaster NHK said two men, aged 19 and 74, were dead.

Police apprehended a suspect, and news reports said he was a 25-year-old self-proclaimed gangster. NHK identified him as Tomohiro Kato, but no motive was known.

Once rare, stabbing attacks have become more frequent in Japan in recent years as violent crime has increased. In one of the worst attacks, a man with a history of mental illness burst into an elementary school in Japan in 2001 and killed eight children. The killer was executed in 2004

[xavier fremboe]

You can ban pointy sticks if you want.  People will resort to blunt sticks.  Ban blunt sticks and people will pick up rocks.  Ban rocks and they'll use their bare hands.

[MicroBalrog]

Seven people are dead so far.

One can only express sympathy for the families of the dead and wish swift recovery to the injured.