Shocked UK Teens see Librarian Slashed by Patron

Horrifying events at a library in the UK: reported in the Camden New Journal. The library was the Swiss Cottage Library in Camden (London).

Apparently, they haven’t yet caught the suspect. Here’s another report that gives a few more details.

March 14, 2008 by Uncategorized 9

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9 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:
    March 14, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    I’m disappointed that the
    I’m disappointed that the article didn’t say whether or not the attacker was caught by the police or not. To me, that is kind of a big part of the story.

    Reply
  2. mdoneil says:
    March 14, 2008 at 7:44 pm

    What about the ubiquitous cameras?
    Shouldn’t the cameras that I am told are all over the UK have prevented this? Couldn’t they zoom in on the suspect as he ran out of the library and tracked him to his criminal lair? I guess not.

    Too bad there was not a guy with a gun who could have apprehended the violent criminal as he fled the scene of the horrendous attack on the library. Or at least someone who could say nee.

    Reply
  3. birdie says:
    March 15, 2008 at 1:34 pm

    guy with a gun
    Oh yes. A gun would have solved all the problems even before they started. Two guns would have prevented the slasher from slashing, three guns would have prevented the librarian from being slashed, and a half-dozen guns would have prevented the teens from looking on.

    Reply
    • mdoneil says:
      March 15, 2008 at 4:35 pm

      Guns never solve problems.
      Although people with guns have been known to solve problems. Most frequently it police officers that are the people with guns that solve problems such as this. I will venture a guess that if there were an armed policeman in the library this would not have occured.

      If there had been a legally armed patron who wished to get involved they may have been able to stop the criminal from stabbing the victim or detain the armed criminal until police may take them into custody.

      While you may not like guns, your hyperbole brings nothing to the discussion. Legally owned and used firearms offer protection from violent that nothing else can provide. I carry a gun because I can’t carry a cop.

      Reply
  4. birdie says:
    March 15, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    hyperbole
    I completely disagree and I’m absolutely entitled to my opinion. Do not attempt to squelch it.

    Reply
    • mdoneil says:
      March 15, 2008 at 10:56 pm

      Squelch?
      I’m not squelching anything I just responded. Again your hyperbole adds nothing to this discussion.

      I can’t delete posts here, nor would I if I could. I don’t delete dissenting posts on my own blog.

      You may not like guns, that is wonderful. I don’t like asparagus. I’m not suggesting that you buy a gun or giving you one as a gift, but I don’t want anyone taking away the individual right to own a gun.

      I hope I never have to use my gun again. I hope it can rust in peace, but if I had to step between an armed attacker and someone else I want my gun. I am trained, I practice at least semiannually, and I have the appropriate license obtained after passing a fingerprint based FBI background check.

      I have been asked if I would shoot someone to protect myself and I can’t answer that question, but I am certain I could shoot an armed violent criminal to protect someone else. Sure, I’d rather have a policeman with me all the time, but you know there is never a cop around when you want one.

      Reply
  5. Cyberpunk Librarian says:
    March 15, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Guys With Guns
    Well, it all depends on your point of view.

    A while back there was a shooting at a school in Israel. In reality, it was very much like the school shootings we have here in America. The student walked on campus and opened up with a gun. And then he got dropped by another student who was also carrying a firearm (legally).

    The thing is, maybe some of these school shootings wouldn’t happen if a student knew there was a good chance that they’d go down before doing much damage or taking a lot of lives. Maybe, just maybe, a librarian wouldn’t look so easy a target if they were armed.

    I don’t know. It certainly hasn’t been tried yet.

    And, while I rarely agree with mdoniel, I have to agree with him here. Cops are reactionary. They show up after the damage is done, people are hurt or dead, and the tragedy has already occurred. In the time between someone going nuts and a cop arriving on scene, lives could be saved by one good person who knew that some people cannot be reasoned with.

    Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes. Tycho (Jerry Holkins) @ Penny Arcade

    Reply
  6. Anonymous says:
    March 28, 2008 at 11:50 am

    This happened in the UK.
    It
    This happened in the UK.

    It is illegal to own a firearm and if you are caught in possession of such an item, you face a prison sentence of at least three years. In a culture where guns are the norm, such as the United States, it must seem perfectly logical to keep a gun in your waistband, but in the UK we don’t promote the carrying of offensive weapons. We have learned from our mistakes (the Dunblane shooting of a class of innocent 5 year olds and their teacher, the Hungerford massacre) and put tighter controls on firearm use. As a result, I think it is more unlikely that there will be a shoot-out in a public library in the UK than in, say, New York.

    Correct me if I am wrong.

    I think it patently absurd that you suggest librarians carry firearms: this news story is about a disturbed man who could have stabbed anybody. The last thing we want in the UK is Wild West shootouts on the High Street. We get those thrills watching American cop shows on Channel 5.

    Reply
    • mdoneil says:
      March 28, 2008 at 11:37 pm

      I think you miss my point
      It is not illegal to own a firearm in the UK, don’t be absurd. Most of the firearms owned in the UK are not handguns but shotguns and rifles, but it is most assuredly not against the law to own a firearm. I’ve been hunting in the UK and I avoided three years in prison.

      I don’t promote the carrying of offensive weapons either, defensive weapons well I certainly promote those. You see the criminal was the one with the offensive weapon, had there been someone with a defensive weapon they could have prevented or stopped the crime.

      There may indeed be less of a chance of a shootout in a library in the UK, but in the case instant the librarian was stabbed not shot so your argument moot.

      You state that the last thing you want in the UK is Wild West shootouts on the High Street. It appears you prefer nice quiet stabbings in libraries than legal handgun ownership.

      I carry a gun because I can’t carry a cop. An armed society is a polite society.

      If you think the criminals in the UK don’t have any guns you are sadly mistaken, your examples refute your argument. I only want to even the playing field.

      Not that your system may not be working, there have been no mass murders of school children, and frankly if there was any possibility of that working in the States – of eliminating violence against innocents – I’d hand you my guns today. Sadly I don’t think it can ever happen.

      Reply

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