On Samurai Swords and Gun Control

[lhynard]

So I think everyone at Hopkins has posted something about this story on FaceBook, but for those of you not living in Baltimore, a burglar was killed with a samurai sword -- yes, a samurai sword -- by an undergraduate student of Johns Hopkins early this morning just three blocks from where I am now sitting

Comments

[godwillnspire]

I always find it refreshing, in a sense, to hear that a citizen has put the arms race in its place. Nonetheless, any violence is tragic. But, given such violence, let it be by the sword or the club. Best yet, let the killer strangle the assailant with bare hands and feel the very life drain out of the body. Violence is savage, even if may be at times necesary, and I think its very harmful to avoid that truth. Technology greatly increases our capacity to deal death by detaching us more and more form the deed

Consider the Bible

[mwbangor]

In the Old Testament, if you killed someone who was stealing from your house in the daylight it was murder. If you killed someone who was stealing from your house at night it was self defense.
In the New Testament, Jesus told the apostles to take a sword on their journey. However, he also told all His followers, "But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt 5:39.
The point in both is that human life is very important. Property and dignity are not.

Re: Consider the Bible

[godwillnspire]

I might have an easier time rendering lifesaving medical aid to a blade puncture/ laceration or an amputation than to an gunshot wound, with its unpredictable internal route. The wounds the report described sound simple to treat, with a little medical awareness. And if I were an threatened swordsman, I should be able to selectively incapacitate an assailant without causing permanent damage (1-on-1 anyway).