Are Chinese schools safe from multiple killings?

[JohnnyT]

In the USA, recorded incidents of multiple killings in schools go back as far as 1764. In 2018, the USA just had another mass killing at a school. This time 17 people were killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Are Chinese schools safe for students and teachers, or do multiple killings happen in Chinese schools too?

[Shelley]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

 

I have no statistics to base my opinions on, but this sort of thing is pretty much confined to the USA. Can't remember anything like this in a school here in the UK.

 

This sort of thing is probably going to happen more in a country with so many people, so many schools and such easy access to guns, it all adds up to a higher probability.

 

Here in the UK guns are not common, we are suffering more from knife crime at the moment, but its hard to accomplish a mass killing with a knife, so it doesn't happen.

 

I am sure others will have their own opinion depending on where they are.

 

 

[happy_hyaena]

Yes, school shootings are basically an American thing.

 

https://www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1819576527

[ZC]

They have basically made the same point already but especially with guns it’s unlikely in China since you can’t just go get one like in the USA. It’s pretty much a USA thing to have tons of school murder. So if you are gonna get attacked it will prob be with a knife so less people would probably be dying.

 

Are you considering coming to China to teach?

[imron]

2 hours ago, happy_hyaena said:

school shootings are basically an American thing.

School shootings yes, school killings not really.  Knife and hammer attacks in Chinese schools are not uncommon - and have left multiple children and adults dead (though granted not as many as there would be if the attackers had guns).

[889]

Not unknown for Chinese students in the U.S. to follow the culture and take up arms, Lu Gang's 1991 massacre at Iowa for example.

 

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/education/higher-education/friends-of-university-of-iowa-student-say-he-was-expelled-following-online-threat-referencing-gang-lu-shooting-20160210

[Jim]

Recall after one of the particularly awful attacks on a kindergarten some years back the appearance of guards armed with those long pitchfork-like devices you can use to control a knife-man at less risk.

[imron]

Note in the wikipedia article I linked above, one of the ways China dealt with the problem was to suppress news of those and further killings (perhaps why the stats only go up to 2012).

 

This is also the recommended approach by many western psychologists for reducing school and other mass-shootings because the fame and notoriety that comes from the 24-hour blanket news coverage is a contributing factor in many of them (more so than access to guns and mental health status according to this statement from the American Psychological Association), but you don't see many people in the media advocating that (Upton Sinclair had a quote for that).

 

Instead you get people arguing to ban guns, but a look in to the data shows that laws banning guns, or only certain guns or increasing age limits would have little effect on reducing school (and other) shootings.

 

Before you dismiss me as a gun nut, I've never even held a gun, let alone fired or owned one.  I'm also not from the US, and I always used to wonder why america didn't just ban them - until I looked in to it and realised the answer is not that simple, and the data doesn't support many of the 'common sense' solutions people suggest.

[社会主义好青年]

The schools are completely safe in most of the big cities. It is impossible to buy guns in china. Even if someone pull off the impossible do get one, it is even harder to carry it without getting noticed with lots of people and cameras around in public.

And it is hard to kill multiple people without guns.

 

[889]

Of course there was the Drum Tower murderer during the Olympics. But armed with just a knife, he could kill only one foreigner.

[imron]

5 minutes ago, 社会主义好青年 said:

And it is hard to kill multiple people without guns.

And yet, it still happens.

[社会主义好青年]

guess I should change my answer to 'it is hard to kill multiple adults without guns'.  There were indeed some stabbings and killings surrounding in the past, nearly all of them happened in kindergarten and elementary schools in china.

[imron]

13 minutes ago, 社会主义好青年 said:

in the past

And then there was supposedly an official government response to repress news of future attacks, and/or only release minimal details, so we have no idea if they stopped happening or if they simply stopped being reported on.

 

13 minutes ago, 社会主义好青年 said:

guess I should change my answer to 'it is hard to kill multiple adults without guns'.

And yet, it still happens.

[社会主义好青年]

When children die, it will still be reported. Yes, the government will try to minimize the media coverage, but it is not something can be simply removed from headline. 

Just think about what you are saying. How do you silence the hundreds and thousands of people at the school who know exactly what's going on? And they have families and friends that will know about it too.

There are definitely government interference in the news coverage, but burying things like school mass murder is simply IMPOSSIBLE.

And on the other hand, Chinese people in general really pay attention to news like this, other than some political scandal that could be easily be buried.

A very recent example would be red blue yellow kindergarten incident. At the very least I can say 99% the people living in Chinese cities know about it. 

[889]

" , . , it is hard to kill multiple adults without guns."

 

Not if you're Tim McVeigh. Or a plane hijacker.

 

[imron]

Just now, 社会主义好青年 said:

but burying things like school mass murder is simply IMPOSSIBLE.

And yet, it still happens.

[社会主义好青年]

That is a great example of something that is simply IMPOSSIBLE to bury

[imron]

8 minutes ago, 889 said:

Not if you're Tim McVeigh. Or a plane hijacker

Cars and other vehicles are also a common choice these days.  I had a friend who died as a result of this.

 

2 minutes ago, 社会主义好青年 said:

that is simply IMPOSSIBLE to bury

Really?  Ask how many young people in China know about it, or would even believe it if you told them.  The government certainly tries very strongly to keep it under wraps.

[HuayangAcademy]

Pretty sad to see this discussion and sorry for your loss Imron

[imron]

Thanks.  Incidentally, Australia introduced stringent gun control after a mass shooting in the 90's.  It was very effective at stopping mass shootings, but as pointed out above, mass killings can still occur.