Paris Knife Attack Stopped With Petanque Balls

By Tom Knighton

I’ve never heard of petanque before. It’s a cross between bocce and horseshoes. It’s not a particularly popular game on the world stage, but it’s popular in parts of France.

Why does any of this matter?

Well, it matters because some guys playing a game of petanque managed to stop a knife-wielding maniac’s rampage. They were successful because they had balls.

No, not like that. Well, not just like that.

They only went out to play a calm game of petanque and enjoy some late summer warmth by a Parisian canal. By the end of the evening, the three friends had neutralized a knife-wielding attacker who had stabbed seven people, with an unlikely weapon: the game’s clanking — and hefty — metal balls.

Lobbing them in their dozens at the attacker and whacking him on the head with a wooden plank, they managed to bring the horror that befell the 19th district on Sunday night to an end. The attacker is now in custody and police are trying to piece together what happened and what the attacker’s motivations for his bloody rampage were.

Without the bravery of the three friends, and the normally-slow-moving steel globes, it could have been a lot worse. The …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms