You're right, if someone is absolutely determined to kill people, they'll find a way... so then it becomes a question of harm-minimization.... what can you do to limit the damage a murderous person could do?
If there were as many 'driving trucks into crowds' attacks as there are US mass shootings, then we'd construct concrete bollards in areas that crowds gather (we have them in Bourke St in Melbourne after that one attack a few years ago).
I personally wouldn't be able to kill as many people with a machete as I could with an assault weapon, so you reduce harm by not allowing me an assault weapon.
The data shows that people who engage in domestic violence have an outsized likelihood of shooting someone, so you reduce harm by banning those people from guns.
The end goal should be to solve all the reasons someone might want to murder another person, but until we can do that, we should definitely be taking steps to minimize harm... which in the US would be improved gun control laws and enforcement.
Perfection isn't the goal, incremental improvement is.
You'd be surprised. Look at that stabbing in the mall in Sydney a few years ago - that was what, six? Lots of people with assault rifles don't get that high.
But my point is, where there is a will, there's a way. And even if there is less per event, the number of events can also go up - which is happening with the knife crime around the world too. I have a couple friends who have left London and one the UK altogether, because it was getting too stabby.
For sure. It is insane in the US and the amount and types of guns people have without any control is ridiculous.
I'm sorry to hear about your friends, that super sucks.
I still have to disagree on the numbers though... London had 112 homicides in 2024 with 72 involved a knife. It's got about 9 million people.
Chicago has 2.6M but had 804 homicides, 84% involving guns.
I just don't think the number of events go up nearly enough to offset the fewer deaths per event... and guns just make it so much easier to successfully murder someone. If someone wanted to do you harm, I'm sure you'd much rather they had a knife than a gun.
Making it harder to kill people by restricting firearms is still a massive win by the data.