Mass stabbing in China killed 9 children and wounds 10 more

Civilians donate blood after the attack. BBC/EPA.

A mass stabbing in Shaanxi Province in China has killed nine children and wounded 10 more. BBC. The attacker, a 28 year old man named Zhao, was reportedly upset over being bullied when he was in school. Seven girls and two boys were killed in the attack, and were most likely between 12 and 15 years old. China has a long history of knife attacks. 

My Comment:

What a difference in coverage between this case and the Parkland shooting in America. Obviously a few more people died in Parkland but you would think that another mass killing of children would make the headlines. 

But it's being reported as an afterthought. Why? Well the obvious thing is that it happened in China. These kinds of attacks are fairly common in China for some reason and it seems like stories about a mass stabbing in China happens a couple of times a year, with the victims often being children. It is, unfortunately, common enough that it isn't really shocking anymore.  

I think that is more evidence to the theory that these kinds of mass killings are memetic in nature. In America the most famous cases are shootings so anyone who wants to kill large numbers of people do so with a gun. In China the most famous cases are stabbings so the copycats use knives. And in Europe it seems that bombings and car ramming attacks are common. 

Of course the other reason that this case kinda proves wrong the idea that gun control stops these kinds of mass casualty events. China has draconian gun laws that people like Michael Bloomberg could only dream of. Private ownership of guns essentially doesn't exist in China. But they still have these kinds of horrible mass casualty events. 

I have said for awhile the biggest factor in how many people die in one of these attacks isn't what weapon was used but how long it takes for someone to fight back. In the last three major mass shootings in America, Las Vegas, the Sutherland Springs church shooting and Parkland, effective resistance didn't show up until a lot of people died. Sutherland springs ended when an NRA member shot the attacker with an AR-15 but it was as the suspect was leaving the scene. My guess is that in China the police were a bit slow on getting to the school if the attacker was able stab 19 people. 

As for the attack itself it is completely disgusting. Being bullied is never an excuse to take out your anger on a bunch of innocent school children who had nothing to do with it. Killing a bunch of innocent children is a special kind of evil and it makes me glad that China still has the death penalty.