[colecampbell666]

I demand to know how someone so obviously disturbed could have managed to stay out of a mental institution until he was 40.

[NGTM-1R]

I demand to know why everyone just sat there and watched him do it. It ain't exactly easy to cut somebody's head off you know.

[Mars]

Would you approach the man continually stabbing someone with a large knife?

My guess is that they were all too shocked to do anything until it was too late. Heroic? No. Understandable? Hell yes.

[BloodEagle]

It must have been a bus full of tourists. 

[colecampbell666]

Usually is.

[castor]

I demand to know why everyone just sat there and watched him do it.

Everyone was probably waiting someone to do something. Would have expected someone to try and intervene before he got the head off though.

Edit: it would have required instant action from someone to save the guy - I'd guess its pretty rare for people to manage that? Unless especially trained to do so. I mean, if you take the time for the normal WTF!? moment its already too late.

[BengalTiger]

Would you approach the man continually stabbing someone with a large knife?

My guess is that they were all too shocked to do anything until it was too late. Heroic? No. Understandable? Hell yes.

If carrying guns in Canada was legal and popular, someone's bullet would probably approach the guy and instruct him to stop.

Hell, if the gunman instructed the freak to stop from the other end of the bus, the freak would probably listen knowing he can be shot, but he can't stab the gunman.

[Spicious]

If carrying guns in Canada was legal and popular, the guy with the knife would have had a gun instead.

[BengalTiger]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55288 - this proves that he'd be too scared to even think about it.

[Ransom]

Not really. The man was nutty enough to behead someone in a bus. I don't think he gave a **** about any sort of consequences.

That's an interesting link, though.

[colecampbell666]

That's an interesting link.

[BloodEagle]

No, this is an interesting link.

[Spicious]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55288 - this proves that he'd be too scared to even think about it.

You're right, all you need is a good amount of fear. Let's bring back the cold war then.
Incidentally, one example isn't statistically significant.

[Tyrian]

I think they tried something similar to what was described in that "Gun Town USA" article in a county in Florida.  (The county was near Miami and had a sky-high crime rate too.)  They made it mandatory for every household to own one gun.  Six months later, the crime rate in the county plummeted.  At the same time, the crime rate in the surrounding five counties jumped 15% each.  I'm curious to see the crime statistics for the area surrounding that town.

[MP-Ryan]

1.  The attacker is a recent (~4 years) immigrant to Canada according to the latest news reports.  Mental illness can be late onset (usually triggered but a life-changing situation or event, such as immigration), and remain undetected unless close friends and family can recognize the signs and demand help.  As a person living within an immigrant enclave, that is exceedingly unlikely.

2.  Greyhound bus corridors are less than 2 feet wide, and the guy is wielding a large knife and already demonstrated the will to use it viciously.  Everyone on board was exactly right not to intervene - you get the hell out of harm's way and let the police deal with it.  Unless you know how to deal with close quarters knife fights and are right next to him, you have precisely ZERO chance of saving the victim and a really good chance of getting stabbed yourself.

3.  Guns.  *sigh*.  First off, all weapons are not allowed to be carried on a bus.  Handguns are perfectly legal in Canada as long as the proper procedures are followed (or at least most) as are long guns.  However, no one would be carrying on a bus, and certainly not openly.  Not to mention, unless you are police or active-service military trained you are much more likely to hit someone else in that cramped environment than the guy you're aiming for.  This is a bus, not an empty street at high noon thanks.  Don't be ridiculous.

4.  Whether or not a gun was trained on the guy its pretty clear there is mental illness involved.  Considering the victim was probably dead within the first few blows and how quickly they can be executed, the guy isn't stopping in time and probably not stopping at all.  Use your brain - simplistic bravado is exactly what a proper analysis of this situation DOESN'T need.

As an aside, compare the violent crime rate in the town in that gun town USA article to the violent crime rate in a similar sized town in Canada and tell me what you see.  I'm not telling you to look at it because of different philosophies on gun control (you can't; the underlying cultures are too different), but rather to compare similar cultures which differ on their attitudes toward guns and violence in general.

[Mars]

Huh... it must be that kind of week

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A 31-year-old man killed his girlfriend on the Greek island of Santorini on Sunday, beheaded her, then fled in a patrol car, a local official said.

During the ensuing chase, the suspect was shot five times by police and ran over two women doctors who were riding a motorcycle before he was caught, the official said.

The suspect, Athanassios Arvanitis, a cook at a local restaurant, is undergoing surgery at an island hospital, said Chrysanthos Roussos, head of the Santorini district on the island.

Neighbors said that, following a heated argument, Arvanitis beheaded his girlfriend's dog with a butcher knife, then killed and beheaded the woman.

The victim, 25-year-old Adamantia Karkali, worked as a teacher at a local village, Angelos Roussos, the mayor of Thira, the island's main town, was quoted as saying by TV station Antenna. Angelos Roussos and Chrysanthos Roussos are not related.

Initially, Arvanitis roamed the village of Vourvoulos exhibiting Karkali's head, neighbors said. Townspeople said they locked themselves in their homes and called the police.

When a policeman tried to handcuff him, the suspect knifed the officer and flung the woman's head into a patrol car, Roussos said. The policeman was only slightly injured, police said.

Arvanitis then made off in a second patrol car and ran over the motorcycle before he was caught, Roussos said. One of the two doctors suffered multiple fractures, Roussos said. The other was uninjured.

As the police fired at Arvanitis to stop him, a stray bullet hit a woman bystander, injuring her slightly, police

Greek man held after girlfriend beheaded

It's rather remarkable everyone got off so lightly (except for the girlfriend of course)

[Nuclear1]

Those were the Atlanteans talking.

[karajorma]

Put them both in the same room and see if either of them says "There can only be one!"

Then we'll know.

[Mefustae]

GamePolitics raises a good point about this:

What is training the grownups to kill this week?

The bloody week began with Sunday's horrific church shooting in Knoxville, Tennessee by a 58-year-old who was a big fan of some of the same conservative pundits who blame video games for youth violence.

Today a 40-year-old guy randomly beheaded the guy sitting next to him on a Greyhound bus in Canada. In Wisconsin a camouflage-clad middle-aged man opened fire on some kids swimming in a local river, killing three.

Horrible, tragic stuff. And if we had three teens committing such atrocities in a single week, we'd probably have a congressional investigation underway by now. But adults who kill randomly will almost always be written off as crazy, which they probably are.

So why is it that video games are blamed for kids who kill? Why aren't young killers also seen as unbalanced people with access to weapons?

UPDATE: A few hours after I wrote this, a 32-year-old ne'er do well went on a workplace rampage, killing two people at a book distributing business located about 10 miles from GP HQ.

Food for thought.

[Mika]

* Was about to give a couple of hints of "everyday" weapons that could be easily carried to a bus providing ample defence for a knife. Realised later that he could be blamed for people carrying that kind of oh-so-serious and absolutely lethal self-defence stuff with them, so don't do it, if you catch my drift. Even more you need to be afraid of the temptation since you might find them pretty much from every shop *

It is a good point that these old rampaging people are classified as crazy, while young ones tend to get twisted by playing violent games. Unfortunately, the young ones seem to actually go bonkers because of continuous bullying.

Mika