A reader writes:

In a remarkable coincidence, just as people were learning about the Connecticut elementary school shooting, we were also reading about a knife attack on elementary school kids in China. While both events are horrific and indicative of mental illnesses in their perpetrators, the contrast is clear: Without a gun, one deranged maniac was able to severely wound 22 kids, but, as of this writing, none of them have died. With a gun, another deranged maniac was able to shoot dead more than two dozen people in a matter of minutes.

(Photo: A woman holds a child as people line up to enter the Newtown Methodist Church near the the scene of an elementary school shooting on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut. According to reports, there are about 27 dead, 18 children, after a gunman opened fire in at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. The shooter was also killed. By Douglas Healey/Getty Images.)