Joel Cauchi, 40, sent the crowded Westfield Bondi Junction complex into panic on Saturday when he began stabbing people with a long blade.
Five of the six people who died were women. Several others, including a baby girl, were injured.
The New South Wales police commissioner told Australia’s ABC News that it was “obvious” Mr Cauchi focused on women.
The only man killed in the attack was security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, who tried to intervene.
I once got yelled at on Lemmy for suggesting that a knife could be as powerful as a gun if used properly. I was accused of being pro gun, which I am not.
I am pro mental healthcare
A knife may be as capable of causing harm as a gun in some situations, but in many situations it is significantly less dangerous.
That doesn’t mean we should neglect mental healthcare, but it does mean guns should probably be more carefully regulated than knives even if mental healthcare were a solved problem.
Totally agree. I can still say that knives are dangerous without supporting guns. Which brings me back to mental healthcare and people not wanting to admit that’s the actual issue, because it’s more difficult to understand than “ban guns” (which I’d be happy with). But in the absence of guns, we get this guy. A 6-body knife killer.
Your whole line of reasoning is irrelevant. This happened in Australia where there are sane gun control laws.
Mental healthcare is available in Australia. He was diagnosed and treated, and went off his meds like many schizophrenics do.
So, mental health care is important. Exactly.
And he had it, so you can stop fucking harping on about it.
Harping on the need for mental health care? no I’m not gonna stop
That’s probably because it’s a line that gun control opponents use to try and minimize the obvious dangers and issues with guns. Make sure you are very clear about the scope of your observation and take into account the context you are introducing the observation and you won’t get yelled at…as much.
I was clear… but you know how people get, they only hear one thing and just want to argue. We all do it at some point.
A person could kill a greater number of people in a set span of time with less energy expended with a gun. But the sound also broadcasts what’s happening to a greater distance.
6 people is a lot
Australia has very good mental healthcare, but people slip through the cracks.
Australia also has very strong gun control laws after a massacre that killed a huge number of people, so these mass killings are few and far between.
No, it’s just better than other places. It’s overstressed, underprioritised, acute-focussed and failing the population at large. Better than the US, even exponentially, doesn’t mean good.
It’s impossible to help everyone, of course. It’s not usually something people want to admit.
Knives are large bullets without the ballistic capabilities brought by the rest of the round. And you can carry different knives.
I mean you can carry different bullets, too, it’s just generally less useful