Tallahassee police investigate 'massive stabbing' at Dyke Industries

[brooklynite]

Tallahassee Democrat

Tallahassee police are investigating a stabbing at Dyke Industries in an industrial park off Hartsfield Road. There are reports of multiple victims being hospitalized, but the extent of their injuries is unknown.

At 8:37 a.m. Wednesday, the Tallahassee Police Department responded to a stabbing near the 2000 block of Maryland Circle. Upon officers' arrival, they discovered multiple stabbing victims and provided immediate medical attention. The suspect is in custody.

An initial report that the incident occurred at the neighboring Coca-Cola plant was incorrect. But other media reports say workers chased the suspect to the plant parking lot, where the suspect was arrested.

Family members gathered behind the police line Wednesday morning and shared stories of the terror that unfolded inside the business.

Miami Herald reports six people stabbed.

[Marengo]

1. Time for a national conversation on knife safety?

[uponit7771]

3. Only if the knife was designed for mass kill and the government laws allowed him to have it

[Marengo]

8. The design of many types of knives sold over the counter for culinary use substantially increase...

Lethality with no added performance or benefit for intended use. Studies in the UK for example have shown that sharp points are unnecessary for culinary use and experts have recommended that knives available for unregulated sale be blunted. Length as well, these same studies have shown that common kitchen knives are unnecessarily long. Again, not needed for food preparation but significantly increasing their danger if used as a weapon.

[Blue_true]

21. So blunt unnecessarily sharp knives and get rid of assault weapons from society. There, problem

solved.

[Marengo]

28. Yep, mandatory blunting, limits on blade length for possession, permits required for any longer...

Blade lengths, and prison for anyone in violation. I’d go as far as a mandatory buy-back for non-compliant configurations.

[Act_of_Reparation]

34. You know there are a shitload of laws regulating knives, right?

Kinda takes the edge off your hyperbole.

[Marengo]

36. You know that's essentially the same argument a lot of "gunners" use, right?

Truth is, a shitload of that shitload are bizarre, antiquated, ignored and unenforced. Kinda like our current state of gun laws, which compels thoughtful people to demand we reassess and modernize as needed to be effective. No reason we can’t do the same with knife laws concurrently.

[jpljr77]

7. Nope. Knives have plenty of utility outside of hurting people, as do cars/trucks, etc. You know what

doesn't? Guns. They're designed for one thing, and that's what they're used for.

[Marengo]

9. Yep actually, as most people do not need a long bladed knife. Japan as an example recognizes this...

By requiring a permit to posses a knife with a blade length of over 15cm. Studies in the UK have found that sharp points are unnecessary for most usages, and experts have recommended that knives available for unregulated sale be blunted. I should think that most Americans would not find similar regulations implemented here in the USA to be unreasonable. Would you?

[jpljr77]

10. Uh no.

This is sounding an awful lot like NRA talking points.

Let's talk to chefs about the utility of a sharp-pointed, long-bladed knife. Or hey, how about we talk to a suburban house mom on about October 22 to see if she has a use for such a tool.

Also, let's talk tomorrow about how many people died in the knife massacre that we're discussing in this thread.

THEN we can talk about regulating knives like guns.

[Marengo]

11. Too bad for you that chefs in the UK specifically consulted on this issue disagree...

Stating that long, pointed knives have “have little practical value in the kitchen”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm

Its been a long time in the works, but blunting is finally gaining ground as well:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/27/knives-sharp-filing-solution-soaring-violent-crime-judge-says

Interesting that your metric of the danger posed by an almost universally available object is limited to fatalities. So, I guess injury no matter how severe or debilitating is no real concern to you?

[NickB79]

39. I just butchered 5 chickens yesterday with a fillet knife

The sharp point and long length was invaluable to the process, as these were some monstrously big birds.

If I get a turkey next spring during hunting season, I may need an even bigger knife!

[Marengo]

40. Prove a need, pass a background check, get a permit, go knife shopping. Easy peasy!

I missed turkey season this year but am definitely giving it a try next year. My AO is mobbed with turkeys, nearly hit a pair a few months back driving in the neighborhood. Thinking of dusting off the Excaliber crossbow for a bit of a challenge.

[Crunchy Frog]

18. How many people have died in mass stabbings in the past year?

How many deaths in smaller scale stabbings?

How many major injuries?

It's important to understand the scope of the problem and respond proportionally.

[Fla_Democrat]

22. When did that become the standard?

I thought the chant was "if it saves one life, it's worth it".

[Crunchy Frog]

24. That may be the chant, but it's not the actual standard.

If you think there's a real problem, and you want to "save one life" or many, you'd better start out by finding out what the scope of the problem actually is.

[Marengo]

27. In 2017, more homicides were committed with knives and other cutting instruments than with...

Rifles in the defined type category. Unless rifles are dramatically over represented in the undefined firearms type category and the overall trends would suggest that’s not the case, not devoting at least some attention seems indefensible.

[Blue_true]

20. I will start that conversation.

The knife injured 6 people and the perp was chased down. An AR-15 or AK-47 would have killed or injured everyone that the gunman saw (it's been men) and no one would have run into a hail of bullets to stop the gunman. So, it is fucking about the scale of carnage, assault weapons on that crown hands down.

[Marengo]

26. Oh, so too bad so sad for the victims of knife violence because GUNZ, right?

[Blue_true]

32. No, any person being the victim of violence should sadden us all.

But assault weapons create a lot, lot more victims, and friend, family and society sadness than knife attacks do.

[Marengo]

37. Is that an excuse to do nothing?

[Blue_true]

38. No. We need to do something, as a society think through the problem(s) and come up with

the best solution(s), historically that has meant that everyone must be willing to give up something and not insist on holding onto all they want and winning their way through the debate.

[Hoyt]

29. Knew it wouldn't take gunners long to pounce on this.

[Marengo]

30. Any comments on the incident and it's implications?

[Hoyt]

31. Nope. Just saying this is not comparable to killing 20 kids, and it's sad a gunner would even

hint that it might be.

In my experience, gunners will do anything -- or say anything, maybe even vote for anyone -- to preserve their ability to acquire more lethal weapons, no matter how many people get killed or hurt.

Fact is, the laws are tougher on carrying knives, swords, billy clubs, etc., than carrying gunz in public.

[Blue_true]

33. Excellent post and observations made within it. nt

[Marengo]

35. You sound a lot like a "gunner" now, friend. Offering up invalid comparisons and excuses for...

Doing nothing. As this incident indicates clearly, these laws aren’t tough enough. Just like current gun laws, right?

[NightWatcher]

2. If he had an AR with 20 round clips or a glock with 15....

There'd be way more carnage and death.

[Marengo]

5. But he didn't. Instead he used something which most people either already have within quick and

Easy reach, or can very quickly acquire. That’s a problem which needs addressing.

[GulfCoast66]

12. No, it's really not a problem which needs addressing.

[Marengo]

13. If the suspect had used a gun, this incident would be classified as a mass shooting. I bet you...

Would be saying something quite different were that the case.

[GulfCoast66]

15. Of course...because mass shootings happen often,

And here in Florida we have had two of the worst in the country in the past couple of years. Mass stabbings, not so much. And mass shootings generally result in people being dead. Mass stabbings are generally not as lethal. The one referenced in this story resulted in 6 injured, expected to survive.

Mass stabbing are rare enough as to be unusual. Treating them like mass shootings is just deflection from a real national crisis. Which I see done a lot. Just not often on DU.

[Marengo]

17. Oh, so a mass stabbing occurs and the only appropriate response is to ignore it because the body...

Count of gun violence is higher? Shut down any discussion of how to reduce the threat to public safety because guns are more dangerous? Whenever a mass shooting occurs, I’ve seen repeated as nauseam on DU that semiautomatic function, high capacity magazines, and even certain types of ammunition are not necessary, suitable, or even desirable for the average civilian and only enhance lethality beyond some vague measure of acceptability. Well, as it turns out, vast quantities of knives are in circulation with design features that also not necessary, suitable, or desirable and only serve to increase their lethality. There is no logical reason these conversations cannot occur concurrently.

[GulfCoast66]

23. i get it. You favor semi-automatics, high capacity magazines and all you mentioned.

It’s doesn’t disqualify you from being a member of the Democratic Party. Unless those things are more important to you than all the other things our party stands for. Then you, by definition, are not voting Democratic. Granted it makes you unpopular on DU. But DU never claims to be a reflection of the party as a whole.

So just state your beliefs rather than engaging in Sophist arguments that try to equate knife violence with gun violence. Silliness. This is not Fox News. People can see thru deflections.

And I am a gun owner and hunter. And agree with the Democratic Party platform that states ownership of firearms is a constitutional right.

Yeah, I know that separation of assault weapons from semiautomatics is a silly game and that semiautomatics, since most shotguns are, will never be banned.

But magazine limits is something that we should work toward. Will we ever round up magazines over 10 rounds? Of course not. But if we forbid their sale, then as time goes by, and I am talking decades, not a few years, we can move toward slowly removing large magazines from general circulation. Cause when I was a kid in the 70’s no one had them. Well, a few gun collectors. If you can’t abide that, then there is no need for further discussion.

Regardless, gun owners have pushed too far with open carry and other bullshit. It is helping win us the educated suburban residents. The backlash to this crazy gun cult is just beginning.

Societal changes take time. Removing large capacity magazines from circulation by 2037 seems more likely than marriage equality did in 1995.

[Marengo]

25. To start, how about you provide evidence, preferably in the form of a quote or link, where I have...

Stated I “favor” semiautomatics and large cap magazines. You are correct, deflection is obvious and your participation in deflection is obvious. You expended a great deal of effort to question my political credentials, but not a pixel contributing to the discussion of mitigating knife lethality. You just dismissed it entirely by making the false comparison with gun violence. These are SEPARATE issues that CAN and SHOULD be addressed CONCURRENTLY. It puzzles me to no end that whenever an incident involving knife violence is posted on DU, the conversation is immediately compared and diverted back to gun violence as if the two are related. ANYTHING which can be used to inflict mass casualties in a single incident must receive greater scrutiny. Why shouldn’t we tighten regulations on the configuration and possession of edged implements if that improves public safety?

[Crunchy Frog]

19. Only if you define the scale of the problem first.

How many fatalities and major injuries per year in this country?

[Aristus]

14. That still will not discourage the "well, why don't we just ban KNIVES, then?" crowd.

It's like trying to eradicate crabgrass.

[safeinOhio]

4. 3 inch knifes are illegal t o carry.

100 round magazines are not.

[Marengo]

6. In Florida, pocket knives up to 4" in length may be carried concealed without a permit. That...

Appears to be the only law which specifically regulates length. All other knives legally available for sale in Florida may be carried in open fashion.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. Thankfully he didn't have a gun or many would be dead

Proves that keeping guns out of violent peoples' hands works.

[Marengo]

41. Looks like Antwann Brown couldn't pass a background check to legally purchase a firearm.

Maybe if we required background for the purchase of knives and other edged implements, he wouldn’t have been able to stab anyone either.