Terrorism is a problem throughout the West. I’ve argued before that the Second Amendment should be a vital component of anti-terrorism efforts here in the United States. After all, the best way to deal with a terrorist is to shoot him or her after they make their intentions known, but before they can hurt anyone.
Of course, that’s not always possible.
That’s especially true in anti-gun nations like England. There, people wishing to combat terrorism have to get creative.
On Friday, police shut down London Bridge after reports of a shooting. A jihadist had attacked people with knives, but his plot seems to have been foiled by a group of bystanders armed with a fire extinguisher and a narwhal tusk. Convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, killed one man and one woman before getting shot by police. He would have killed many more people were it not for a good guy with a narwhal tusk.
Early Saturday morning, footage emerged showing one man chasing the jihadist while spraying him with a fire extinguisher and another man chasing him with the narwhal tusk.
A group of bystanders wrestled with Khan, wresting at least one of his knives from his hands.
…
Britain’s The Times newspaper identified Polish chef Łukasz as the man wielding the narwhal tusk.
“Łukasz grabbed a nearby pole and ran at him, getting stabbed in the hand in the process but continued to pin him down,” a co-worker told The Times. “Being stabbed didn’t stop him giving him a beating. Łukasz is a hero.”
Łukasz is being heralded internationally as a hero, though we shouldn’t forget that he wasn’t alone. There were others fighting back as well, of course, and they deserve our applause, as well.
Yet it’s Łukasz and his use of a narwhal tusk that seems to have captivated the American mind. Why is that?
Well, the answer is simple. He used what weapons he had. In this case, he grabbed a narwhal tusk off the wall of the restaurant and went to war, evoking images of the Winged Hussars arriving at the Siege of Vienna in 1683. It was also as ridiculous on the surface as the legend of the Polish cavalry charging German tanks in World War II.
It worked, though.
The reason Americans are responding is because he illustrated something that many Americans respect on a deep, cultural level. He fought back. He did it in a country that has all but made it impossible to fight back. His companions responded with fire extinguishers, not because of flames but because that’s what they could get. Łukasz used the tusk because it’s what he could get.
The unusual nature of his weapon, however, has made Łukasz stand out.
There’s also the fact that Łukasz should never have had to use a narwhal tusk. He or someone else should have been able to be armed with a real weapon, something that could have met the attack and put an end to it.
Some in the U.K. are arguing that this proves you don’t need guns.
Meanwhile, I’m going to point out that there aren’t a lot of narwhal tusks lying around. You can’t always trust that a modern-day Winged Hussar in the guise of a humble chef will be there to save the day.
No, you need a nation of heroes. You need a country full of armed and ready individuals who will put down an attacker quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Let’s keep in mind that in the U.S., the one time terrorists tried something in a pro-gun state, they never made it out of the parking lot. In anti-gun states, though, they’ve gotten much further.
Gun control doesn’t stop terrorism. The kind of people who go after terrorists with a narwhal tusk, however, do.
That’s why people are loving the guy.
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