Skip to main content

Read & React: Vancouver Stabbing Rampage Spurs Gun Debate

On Thursday, Jan. 31, in Vancouver, British Columbia, a "seemingly deranged" man ran through the hallways of an apartment building slicing and stabbing people.

The 33-year-old suspect stabbed a total of seven residents before being apprehended by Vancouver police. He's not a resident of the apartment complex, and the victims had no connection to one another other than being residents of the complex, so it appears the attack was a completely random event.

While homicidal maniacs, to use the comic-book-sounding term, tend to use guns in America, around the world they quite often use knives. Crazy is as crazy does, and only the methods differ. A man in China, within a day of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn., went on a rampage with a knife and stabbed 22 children. I've seen video of one such attack from the Philippines, where the perpetrator used a machete, and it was ugly; most people couldn't do that much damage with a gun.

Why was a knife used in this attack? There's no way to say for sure. There is more gun control in Canada than in the U.S., but Canadian subjects are allowed to own handguns and semi-auto centerfire rifles such as ARs — they are restricted to 10-round magazines. There is no concealed carry in Canada, however, and all guns must be stored unloaded and separate from ammunition, so armed response to a home invader or attacker will take minutes rather than seconds.

The most interesting this about this event to me was the immediate response across Twitter and the internet. A lot of people sarcastically called for "knife control," a national knife registry, etc., but the scariest (and saddest) thing to me was the deluded fools who concluded that, because nobody died, gun control worked. As the kids like to say, OMG. There are so many things wrong with that conclusion, my head threatens to explode from the trauma to the logic center of my brain.

I'm not in favor of any sort of weapons regulation, or any kind of increased government regulation. But if I was, I would immediately require public school students to take a stringent battery of logic classes, because apparently the critical thinking skills of so many people are near non-existent.


What are your thoughts?

Current Magazine Cover

Enjoy articles like this?

Subscribe to the magazine.

Get access to everything Guns & Ammo has to offer.
Subscribe to the Magazine

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Recommended Articles

Recent Videos

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Rifles

Gemtech GVAC

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Handguns

SDS Imports Tisas PX-9 Affordable Defensive Pistol

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Handguns

Walther PDP Professional Law Enforcement Exclusive Duty Pistol

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Rifles

Rossi R95 30-30 Hunting and Plinking Lever Action Rifle

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Accessories

Safariland IncogX IWB Holster: Editorial Roundtable 2023

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Rifles

New Colt CBX Tac Hunter Premium Hunting Rifle

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Optics

Bushell Match Pro ED 15x56 Binoculars: Editorial Roundtable 2023

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Optics

First Look: Trijicon RMR HD & RCR

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Handguns

Guns & Ammo Magazine: September 2023 Issue

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Handguns

Springfield Armory Echelon: First Look

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Handgun

Guns & Ammo Magazine: August 2023 Issue

Meet the Stoeger STR-9 Micro Compact. Slim carry for less than $400!
Handgun

Guns & Ammo Magazine: July 2023 Issue

Guns and Ammo Magazine Covers Print and Tablet Versions

GET THE MAGAZINE Subscribe & Save

Digital Now Included!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Give a Gift   |   Subscriber Services

PREVIEW THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Buy Digital Single Issues

Magazine App Logo

Don't miss an issue.
Buy single digital issue for your phone or tablet.

Buy Single Digital Issue on the Guns & Ammo App

Other Magazines

See All Other Magazines

Special Interest Magazines

See All Special Interest Magazines

GET THE NEWSLETTER Join the List and Never Miss a Thing.

Get the top Guns & Ammo stories delivered right to your inbox every week.

Phone Icon

Get Digital Access.

All Guns and Ammo subscribers now have digital access to their magazine content. This means you have the option to read your magazine on most popular phones and tablets.

To get started, click the link below to visit mymagnow.com and learn how to access your digital magazine.

Get Digital Access

Not a Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Enjoying What You're Reading?

Get a Full Year
of Guns & Ammo
& Digital Access.

Offer only for new subscribers.

Subscribe Now