Posted by Spencer:
This is a generally uninteresting article from a local paper where I live – the reason I bring it up is because of this quote from one of the politicians:
“A person that’s got skill with a sword in a very big crowd could put a lot more people down with a sword than a gun,” he said. “They’re silent. You’ll have people screaming, but nobody knows what’s going on.”
Essentially the article is about how Utah is one of the only states to allow guns on public college campuses and one of the politicians from a city north of Salt Lake City gave the above quote relating to the recent shooting at Trolley Corners mall in Salt Lake.
I would most certainly be more scared of a guy wielding a gun than some geek with a sword. With a sword you see the guy coming and you run away – with a gun if you run you get shot in the back.
Seriously, what is this guy thinking? He is right up there with the guys who think video games are the cause of all the violence we are having (Jack Thompson I am looking at you.)
50cal.wordpress.com 
Essentially a gun is superior to a sword in both range and overall efficiency, furthermore, nowadays, it’s a much larger intimidation (while a swordsman would in most cases be the target for ridicule). However as the article points out, the sword is much more suited for engaging an unarmed crowd. A blade has much more contact surface than a bullet, has a larger chance of leading to death once damaging it’s target, and is restricted solely by it’s durability and the user’s stamina. You can’t sever an arm with a beretta.
In the scenario where the scene is a school, whether or not a gun or a sword poses a larger threat is purely dependant on architecture and crowd density. In tight halls, and complicated twists and turs a gun is pretty much useless, and the victims can get to cover quite easily, eliminating the guns usefulness after ammunition is lost on people that ran away, while with a blade, the murderer can actively pursue his victims and “herd” them without the risk of suddenly losing his advantage.
On the subject of guns on campus, I’ll take the liberty of just quoting the article:
‘ “People with those permits, they go through a background check,” he said. “Generally the people who go through that trouble aren’t people who are gong to fly off the handle and do something dangerous.” ‘