Mass killing in Norway where the suspect killed five people with a bow and arrows.

 

An arrow sticking in a wall in Kongsberg, Norway. Reuters. 

A man used a bow and arrow to kill five people and wound two more in Norway's worst mass killing since 2011. Reuters. The attack occurred in Kongsberg and the suspect is in custody. Police are investigating if the attacker used other weapons. He was found to be acting by himself. In response to the attack, the usually unarmed Norwegian police have been ordered to carry guns as a precaution. The motive for the attack is currently unknown. 

My Comment:

There is a lot of confusion about the perpetrator of this attack. Some outlets are saying he is a German, others a Norwegian Islamic convert and another one saying he was a Dane. I don't particularly believe any of those reports and I will be waiting for a positive identification before I speculate too much. 

I also don't want to speculate too much on motive, assuming there is one. Everyone these days assumes that every mass attack is some kind of terrorism but forget some people just want to kill people. It's very possible that this was some kind of political attack but it's just as possible that he was just a run of the mill murderer. 

I do think that Norway should reevaluate their police laws. If a cop had a gun they could have put this attacker down fairly quickly. Firearms are more effective than bows and arrows of course so if the cops had weapons they could have stopped this attack. Of course that depends on the response time, which didn't strike me as very good. 

I am not surprised that there was a mass killing with a bow and arrow. As a weapon the bow and arrow are fairly effective. With a broadhead arrow you can do a lot of damage and the victim will bleed out very fast. And they inflict wounds that are very hard to wound. Remember, these arrows are designed kill large animals like elk and moose, humans are even weaker. Plus you can shoot arrows fairly fast if you are skilled. 

The main problem with using a bow and arrow is that you are fairly limited with how many arrows you can carry. You can re-use arrows but removing them while in combat is difficult and the arrows may no longer fly true. It's not the best weapon you could use but this attacker shows that it can be effective, especially if you aren't facing effective resistance. 

Of course it's very obvious that this is a strong argument against gun control. Bows and arrows are easy to obtain and anyone with a hunting license can get one easily. You can kill and injure people easily with them. A gun would be more effective but it does show that somehow banning every gun in the world wouldn't stop these kinds of mass killings.