It's incredibly problematic, at least in my mind, to simply look at any category of crime in isolation based on the weapon used. Just like armed robbery with a knife isn't appreciably different from armed robbery with a gun, the same can be said about mass murders and attempted mass murders.

The driving forces that led to the attack are what's important, not the weapon.

Yet many still think that mass attacks won't happen if we just restrict guns more.

Well, there are some people in Austria today who might beg to differ.

A man has been arrested after a 14-year-old boy was killed in a stabbing in Austria, which left five others injured.

The 23-year-old suspect, who police said is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria, was detained after the attack in the city of Villach on Saturday.

Four of the victims were men aged between 14 and 32. Two were seriously injured in the attack, with the other two sustaining minor injuries. Later on Saturday, police confirmed a fifth man had been injured.

A motive is currently unclear but police continue to investigate the suspect’s personal background.

"We have to wait until we get secure information," police spokesperson Rainer Dionisio said, adding a man “randomly attacked passers-by with a knife”.

The incident happened on Saturday just before 4pm local time in the centre of the city in southern Austria.

A “heroic” 42-year-old man who works for a food delivery company drove towards the suspect to intervene after witnessing the stabbings in his car, Mr Dionisio told Austria's public broadcaster ORF.

I'm pretty sure, or at least hopeful, that the quotes around the word "heroic" is because it's a direct quote versus the writer trying to question the heroism of the driver.

Sure, there probably wasn't a risk to his life from a knife, but this is an attempted mass murder being committed by someone of Middle Eastern extraction. To think there might be some other weapon in the offering doesn't seem like a stretch, especially since Austria isn't exactly warm this time of year, meaning jackets that could hide a suicide vest or something.

Authorities aren't saying terrorism, but it sure smells like terrorism. Especially as he was "on their radar."

It's possible it was just some dude who decided mass shooters were role models and wanted to go out in a blaze of glory or whatever, only to get bumper-stomped by the Uber Eats guy. However, I think it's unlikely.

But let's understand something here and now. The driver shouldn't have had to intervene. In a free society, which absolutely no part of Europe really is, the people would be armed. They'd have met this jackwagon's act of aggression with supersonic attitude adjusters that would have given him the gift of meeting Allah.

Instead of having to get a car wash, the driver would be telling everyone he knew about making a delivery and seeing some wanna-be jihadist getting merked on the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, this is Austria. I mean, I get it. It's not like no Austrian has ever threatened the entire world or anything, but most people there can be trusted with the right to keep and bear arms.

Refusing to do so doesn't stop mass attacks, as we can plainly see.

And to those who try to argue that with only one dead, it wasn't as bad as some of our mass attacks, I want to point out that many of what they love to call mass shootings tracked by the Gun Violence Archive have zero dead, so step off with that nonsense.