Unintended consequences

From the Bayou Renaissance Man, a classic:
"The UK banned almost all handguns over a decade ago, and makes it extremely onerous to get a license to possess a long gun. These measures were - and are - touted as being necessary to reduce 'gun violence'. The latest British Crime Survey reveals that someone in the UK experiences a knife attack every four minutes - almost 130,000 last year. For the past few years there's been more and more talk about criminalizing the possession of knives, in response to 'knife violence'. When, oh, when will these idiots realize that the instrument is not the problem?

Ban guns - knives will be used.
Ban knives - baseball bats, cricket bats, and other club-like implements will be used.
Ban clubs - bricks and stones will be used.

The problem isn't what instrument is used in violence - it's the violence itself. And that's something that's in the hearts and minds and souls of individuals. You can only address violence if you address its causes inside people - their attitudes, reactions, prejudices, hopes, fears, whatever. Unless you address that reality, you've already lost the fight."

Rico says he'd rather get shot than cut, but he still intends to shoot the next knife-wielder he runs across...