Stricter security can curb school attacks

On Tuesday morning, a man hit 20 children with a hammer at a primary school in Beijing. Four of the children were severely injured. Several similar tragedies have happened in China in recent years, sometimes resulting in some students' deaths. These incidents should prompt the authorities to tighten security in and around schools, where some of the most vulnerable members of society spend much of their time during a regular weekday. Schools ought to be the safest place in the neighborhood.

One day before the Beijing incident, the city authorities released a survey in which most reviewers said they feel safe in the capital. However, one incident can shatter the illusion of safety. No family should have to go through the loss or injury of a child. And the attacks on schoolchildren should justify a systematic response.

When such tragedies take place, one is tempted to draw comparisons between attacks on school children in China and school shootings in the United States. But such comparisons can be justified only if one can learn lessons to make schools and the areas around it safer for children. In China, such perpetrators use knives or hammers, not guns as in the US. Gun enthusiasts in the US sometimes cite Chinese school incidents to argue against stricter gun control. I would consider schools to be safe zones if no weapons were allowed, except for those carried by security personnel.