The terrorist attack in Stockholm this past Friday has led to an editorial in a Swedish newspaper calling for banning cars from Swedish cities to stop terror attacks. The editorial cited that ideology was not to blame, but cars and trucks.

Let’s ban everything a terrorist might use to create death and mayhem on public streets.

Owning a firearm in Sweden is a privilege, not a right. This privilege is limited to registered firearms in the hands of licensed, examined hunters, licensed members of a licensed, recognized shooting sports club, or licensed collectors of certain permissible historical firearms. No one is allowed to carry a firearm in Sweden, except for those licensed persons traveling to and from authorized, licensed events, then those firearms must be unloaded and securely stored. This keeps all firearms out of the hands of unlicensed criminals. You can count on it.

Sweden should consider banning or regulating everything else that is capable of being used by terrorists. Those things might include but are not limited to hunting knives, butcher knives, pocket knives, paring knives, steak knives, filet knives, letter openers, cast-iron skillets, rocks, stones, ball bearings, hammers, axes, hatchets, electric drills, jackhammers, knitting needles, crowbars, tire tools, wrenches, pipe, hydraulic hoses, cables, pressure washers, framing squares, chainsaws, lawnmowers, fertilizer, pressure cookers, battery acid, lye (sodium hydroxide), charcoal, flammable liquids, grain dust, electricity, insecticides, herbicides, airplanes, screwdrivers, pliers, machetes, files, ropes, batteries, matches, cigarette lighters, propane torches, propane tanks, firewood, axe handles, mall handles, picks and pick handles, shovels, kaiser blades, bows and arrows, horses, wagons, cows, oxen, ostriches and emus, dogs, large felines, motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, forks (meat, pitch, and dining), spades, rolling pins, baseball bats, hockey sticks, slingshots, boats, fans, electric motors, helicopters, bowling pins, bowling balls, curling stones, acetylene torches, ball point pens, pencils, chains, concrete reinforcing steel, cold-rolled steel stock, key-stock, spears, javelins, lances, halberds, swords, anything made of iron or hardwood, plastic bags, visquene, chlorine bleach, ammonia, fists, elbows, feet, and perhaps lutefisk and rakfist, those rotten fish dishes Scandinavians seem to have a mysterious, unfathomable taste for.

If all these items were banned, Sweden would be a safe country for all. No one would have any worries. One could walk the streets of Stockholm without any fears whatsoever.

My, oh, my! What has become of the Swedes and the proud Vikings they once were?

Before it’s over, Sweden will have lost its own Swedishness in a rising rip tide of unfavorable demographics.

But in the meanwhile, they will be safe as they disappear from the face of the earth.

The world is a strange place, made even stranger by those who demand their immediate and constant personal safety be furnished by others. It is good to know that when your personal safety is immediately threatened, a simple cell phone call can bring help within the hour, or two, unless you live in a “Do Not Enter” zone, then help may never come. Then the word “ambulance” takes on a new connotation similar to the word “hearse.”

Life is full of risks. No one gets out of it alive. The death rate to date is 100%. What will we die from? I’d speculate that fear kills as many as anything else.

Best of luck, Sweden. I admire your Husqvarna firearms that have been manufactured since the 1600s when they made excellent matchlock muskets. I admire your Husqvarna chainsaws. I admire your Sandvik steel used in saw chain and files. I admire your Volvo 244 cars and your Saab cars and jets. At one time, we all would have feared Swedes and their Viking heritage. Now, we just fear for your survival as a recognizable culture as you cling to the hopes for your personal safety in silent resignation at the bellicosity of those you invited into your country to become your neighbors and fellow citizens and share in your genuine good nature.

One day, people will admire your most noble of intentions as they mourn your absence.

The rest of us are right behind you. We may even overtake you. If we do, you can wish us luck as we pass you by on the road to an obscure but safe extinction.

©2017 Mississippi Chris Sharp

Update:

It has been pointed out that I omitted scissors. A government cannot allow the wanton possession and abuse of scissors and expect its citizens to be safe. mea culpa.

And hat pins, and straight razors, box cutters, and razor blades. By their very nature, safety razors and safety pins are excluded.

And billiard balls and cue sticks.

And fire. Fires of any type must be regulated and licensed to ensure a safe citizenry.