A horrible attack at a Chinese elementary school this week that left at least eight children dead is further proof that madmen — who are determined to cause mayhem — don’t need guns when their victims are helpless, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said in a statement today.
“The attack at Chaoyangpo Elementary School in Hubei province was a horrific event,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed, “and it was reportedly carried out with a meat cleaver by a man who, according to one account, had served time in prison and was recently released. Nobody is calling for regulation of cutting tools, and we think this terrible crime should remind people that it is not the tool, but what is in the hearts of people who commit these heinous acts, that is really to blame.
“This unspeakable crime can also serve as a reminder to those who are always willing to blame the American firearms community for attacks at schools and other places that the United States is hardly the only nation where mass killings occur,” he added. “What happened Monday in central China was an inexplicable act of brutality against innocent youngsters, which can be said about any attack in any school, anywhere around the world.
“And let’s not forget,” Gottlieb noted, “that this was not an isolated incident. In January, an attack at a Beijing elementary school injured 20 children. In April 2018, nine people were killed in an attack outside of a middle school in Shaanxi province, and back in June of last year, a man fatally stabbed to children outside of an elementary school in Shanghai.
“We can overlook the political and cultural differences between our two nations and express shock and sorrow to the Chinese people, and especially the families of those children who were lost,” Gottlieb continued.
“However,” he said, “at the same time we must remember that one depraved individual appears to be responsible. It would be irresponsible on our part to blame Chinese society or even a segment of that country’s population for what happened. One person did this, and we are confident that he will be dealt with individually, rather than penalizing millions of Chinese citizens for a crime they did not commit.
“There might be a lesson in that for people in this country who rush to blame guns and punish all gun owners when some individual commits a terrible crime,” Gottlieb concluded.
People seem to fail to understand the entrepreneurial mindset of killers. Their goal is to kill. They don’t mind breaking many laws to pull their crimes off. They don’t mind using different weapons to fulfill their objectives. Adding more laws against guns will simply lead to the creation of more opportunities for mass killers. Why? Because law abiding citizens will comply with laws that might prevent them from having guns, while criminals will love the increase in “soft targets” that will come from those laws.
