As the old saying goes, never bring a knife to a gun fight. Thankfully some criminals do bring knives to gun fights, which makes them much easier to stop:
A citizen with a gun stopped a knife wielding man as he began stabbing people Thursday evening at the downtown Salt Lake City Smith’s store.
[…]
Espinoza says, the knife wielding man seriously injured two people. “There is blood all over. One got stabbed in the stomach and got stabbed in the head and held his hands and got stabbed all over the arms.”
Then, before the suspect could find another victim – a citizen with a gun stopped the madness. “A guy pulled gun on him and told him to drop his weapon or he would shoot him. So, he dropped his weapon and the people from Smith’s grabbed him.”
It’s nice to see that the good guy was not only able to end the situation but was able to do so without firing a shot. Many self-defense cases involving armed individuals end without the need to employ the arm beyond presentation. Criminals often look for easy victims and surrender upon the first indication of armed resistance, something advocates of gun control usually fail to take into consideration.
On an unrelated side note I found the following line in the story armusing:
Police say the suspect purchased a knife inside the store and then turned it into a weapon.
How does one turn a knife into a weapon? I think a knife fits the description of a weapon no matter how you look at it.
You do turn a knife into a weapon. The same why you would turn a baseball bat, an axe, a hammer, an automobile, hands(fists), a piece of rope, or your boot into a weapon.
Every one of those things, and a near infinite number more, are tools. Invented to do something useful, they are turned into a weapon by the intent of the person holding them.
Even firearms are just tools until someone makes the decision, good or bad, to use one as a weapon.