20 years ago today, a man stormed a nursery in Wolverhampton wielding a machete, attacking both young children and staff. Thankfully however, while three children and four adults were injured, there were no fatalities — partly due to the bravery of then 21 year old nursery nurse Lisa Potts, who risked her life to shield the children from the attack.
Now, on the twentieth anniversary of the event, one of the children she saved has opened up on an AMA on Reddit. Ahmed Malik was three years old when it happened, and was left with a fractured skull and a permanently scarred on his elbow. However he’s grown up fine and graduated from university, and the AMA is definitely an inspiring and interesting read.
One of his responses really stands out though. He was asked how the incident has made him view violent crime in general (the attacker was suffering from schizophrenia). Though the issue of guns wasn’t brought up by the original questioner, his unique perspective allowed him to powerfully explain how gun laws saved his life:
I think its given me a unique perspective on things like gun crime. For example a few months before this attack there was a shooting in Dunblane, a town in Scotland where 18 people died and were injured. I sometimes think: "If he had a gun I'd be dead. My older sister would be dead. All those people who survived, who knows how many of them would have lived." So it frustrates me when I see over in America where there not even willing to talk about gun control. Like do some studies or something and if you find limiting access to guns won't solve your problem, then so be it, but at least have the conversation.
Obviously, gun control is a very complicated issue. But if a guy can only get access to a machete instead of an assault rifle, the death toll with almost certainly be lower.
