School attack in The Netherlands – no one gets hurt because it isn’t the US

A mentally disturbed 44 year old tried to attack students and faculty with two knives.

A ‘school attack in The Netherlands’ is not exactly the most common headline you see in the news. You expect to see that sort of news in other countries *cough* USA *cough*. But we are living in strange times… This last Tuesday a mentally-ill 44-year-old man went to a school wielding two knives. Obviously posing a threat, the students used their backpacks to scare off the attacker. The man, after being barraged by a volley of backpacks filled with heavy science books, promptly walked away from the school.

The attacker has a history of mental illness, and is actually a patient at a mental health institution. Now in police custody, no official statement has been made on the measures that will be taken.

Never bring a knife to a backpack fight.

Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock (well, only when it’s like pro-papers.com in real life, because how the heck would just paper beat anything)… Oh, and of course, backpack beats knife-wielding maniac. As you see in the video, the students at the school didn’t wait for the police. Nope! They decided to do what any teenager who watches too many action movies would do: throw backpacks at the evil doer.

Maybe Trump should arm teachers with backpacks… I mean, damn that looks painful.

School attack Dutch style

I think it’s pretty obvious that fending off an attacker with Scholastic backpacks is only possible in this surreal country. With no ridiculously easy access to guns, the attacker had no option but to attack using knives. And although objectively scary, it’s easier (and apparently possible) to stop this sort of attacks with something as mundane as backpacks.

Also, despite the potential gravity that this situation could have entailed, so far no ludicrous proposals to arm teachers have come up. These tweets summarises this fact:

 

 

All in all we are just happy that no one got hurt in this school attack in The Netherlands. Also, really hope that this doesn’t start a trend of students putting rocks and heavy objects in their backpacks. Just in case.

What do you guys think about this incident? Let us know in the comment section below.

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32 COMMENTS

  1. Brilliant idea! Many of us Americans can’t figure out why this can’t happen here as well. Despite the news, many/most Americans are simply not aligning with the NRA.

  2. This is one of the most empowering things I have ever seen! Thanks from the U.S. (which is a frickin’ mess right now….we apologize. We are trying to fix it!)

  3. Very simple answers: no gun lobby and no bribed Republican legislature. Vote them out and see what happens.

    • Yeah, I also believe the NRA has toooooooooo much lobbying power. It’s ridiculous.

  4. Love seeing your articles, but how about a little less biased. What’s with all the US bashing. Kids fight in the school yards in America too and there aren’t any guns involved. Doesn’t matter if something is legal or not legal if a person wants it bad enough they will get it. Drugs are illegal in America but if you have the means you get them. Doesn’t take much. If guns were made illegal trust me people will still have them.

  5. When I was 16 I faced a much older and stronger adversary and won the confrontation by ripping my jacket off and threw it violently to the ground with a fierce face expression. It worked. He departed like a dog with his tail between his legs. No blows were exchanged.

  6. I really do wish you stop comparing the Netherlands to the US. The US is a troubled country but the Netherlands is also VERY flawed and is flirting with its own disaster that you are on a collision course with. Perhaps if you focused more on why there is a rise in people willing to support people like Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet you would be a lot further ahead of the game in your own crumbling government that has undergone extreme change. The US will be a second amendments right country for the foreseeable future because the leaders know that any attempt at changing would result in another civil war and we can’t really afford that since there are just as many unrecognized wars that are taking a toll on its poor.

  7. Well… knives weren’t the only option, but luckily that is what he chose. If he had access to a car for example or went online and found out how to make home made bombs or molotovs… it could have been way worse and he has access to those things. Making guns harder to access definitely makes it harder for people to do terrible things however. That I agree with.

  8. The Netherlands is the most beautiful country in the world. It’s full of surprises. Living here is something else, really.

  9. It can also end entirely different, as I experienced when I was going to school in the Netherlands years ago. People actually did get hurt back then.

  10. As a US citizen who had two children in a school where there was a horrific shooting in 1998, it is good to see a another country that has the common sense that American politicians lack. I am thankful for the safety of your children, and proud of their bravery and willingness to take action. My country is the laughingstock of the planet with this madman at the helm, and the band of court jesters who support him. It is craziness here!

  11. This mentally disturbed man had been bullied by the students over a long time… and also this time he met eith nasty scolding, before he walked onto the schoolyard. . This important part of the story was missing here… WHY?

  12. Timothy McVeigh killed an awful lot of people with fertilizer and diesel fuel. Neither of those are outlawed. Maybe everyone complaining about guns in America should stop and try to understand that the 2nd Amendment is the one that guarantees the survival of all of the others. That’s why the founding fathers put it right after the one that gives you the right to freedom of speech, religion, press, to peacefully assemble, protest and petition the government. Now let that sink in for a minute. Watch Schindler’s List, the only people with guns are the military and law enforcement. It didn’t turn out very good for the people without them.

  13. What an idiotic article. Maybe the article headline should read. An Equal Number of Women Risk Their Lives to Defend Fellow Student. Hmm, not exactly the proudest moment for the feminist movement, is it?

  14. Nice title you all think you’re bloody perfect but I got hit by a Dutch asshole riding my bike today. Seems using force to move a woman out their way, intimidation on sidewalks and hitting while on a bike a completely fine in this society. Only the two meter white guys have done it to me so don’t try and pon it off on the immigrants.

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