Polish Mass Shooting Leaves Six Dead, 15 Injured – Bearing Arms

Americans are, understandably, very Amerocentric in our news consumption. We’ve got a big country with a lot going on, so it’s hard to pay attention to all of that and with what’s happening elsewhere in the world. It’s just not feasible for most of us. That’s why I get annoyed anytime anyone claims that mass killings are “uniquely American,” as some of put it, or that this is the only country in the world where it happens, as others claim.

I hate it because it’s completely untrue.

For example, let’s talk about the most recent example, this one coming to us from Poland. For the record, this has been described as an “act of terror” by Polish authorities.

Mourners on Sunday laid candles and flowers alongside bullet holes in Krakow, Poland, after the city’s central square turned into a site of bloodshed and grief. A 24-year-old man with far-right views opened fire a day earlier, killing six people and wounding 15 before police shot and wounded him.

Poland on Sunday began two days of national mourning following the attack the day before, which Poland’s defense minister described as an “act of terror.”

The violence began Saturday at around 3 p.m. when the assailant drove through the Main Square, in the heart of Krakow’s Old Town. The square is a major tourist hub in the country’s second-largest city.

…

Authorities also found the bodies of the assailant’s sister, mother and father at the man’s family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds.

The assailant was shot by police and died in the hospital.

While the Associated Press went to great pains to describe these attacks as “rare” in Poland, they’re not as rare as many want to believe.

Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. However, in mid-October three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children. The young attackers used knives or other sharp objects. Officials blamed the school attacks on online “glorification of violence,” and said that some of the attackers were active in the far-right environment.

Of course, they’re blaming the far-right for this attack, too, but without a whole lot of evidence presented. It may be true, because I don’t know what “far-right” means in Poland, though most European versions of “far-right” are somewhere to the left of me, and I’m a lot more moderate than many here in the United States.

But they could also be talking about neo-Nazis, which I consider more leftist than “far-right.”

Regardless of that, it should be noted that Poland might be “little European Texas” to some degree; the laws are far more extensive than here. You need a permit to purchase, for example, and must undergo both a criminal background check and a psychological evaluation before getting a permit. You also need to give a reason for wanting a gun, and while personal protection is, theoretically, a viable choice, those permits are difficult to get.

In other words, they already have more extensive gun control laws than the United States, and they accomplished nothing in preventing this shooting. The killer reportedly had a permit, as did his father.

Obviously, thoughts and prayers for the deceased, as well as prayers for the speedy and complete recovery of the injured. Nothing like this should happen anywhere. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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