Posted to the Cyberdojo today:
"Robert Agar-Hutton" robert@pro...tics.co.uk writes:
> In China or Korea - He couldn't have gone and bought (legally) the
> gun!!!
Well, yes, but if anyone thinks strong gun control laws keep guns
away from determined bad guys, read the news about the shooting murder
of the mayor of Nagasaki; firearms are strictly banned in Japan.
Gun control laws keep guns away from bad guys about as well as
drug control laws keep heroin away from junkies. If your nation doesn't
have a heroin problem, it's not because prohibition laws make it
impossible for people to get drugs, it's because your society has given
people better options than smoking or shooting up addictive synthetic
opiates. (Hurray for you!)
If your nation doesn't have a violent crime problem, it's not
because prohibition laws make it impossible for people to get weapons,
it's because your society has given people better options than killing
each other. (Hurray for you!)
A determined killer doesn't even need a gun - one guy in China a
few years ago got ten people in one bloody night with an axe and a
knife. In the U.S., we have a higher *non-gun* murder rate than the
total rate for the U.K. or Japan - we beat and stab each other to death
at a higher rate than you guys shoot, stab, and beat each other.
If you made all guns in the U.S. magically disappear, we'd still
have a higher murder rate than such nations from these non-gun
homicides; and you would have disarmed many victims (estimates of
defensive gun uses in the U.S. range from one hundred thousand into the
millions, depending on who does the survey), leading to more murders.
(We should also note that even in the U.S., you are more likely to
die in a fall than be shot to death. I've often said the ukekemi -
breakfalls - are probably the most useful physical skill in our
training. And you're much more likely to die in an motor vehicle
accident than either of these; investing in good public transportation
would do us more good than more gun laws.)
"Victor Smith" isshim2@c.....t.net writes:
> This person didn't break any laws until he started his horiffic
> crime spree.
According to some coverage I've seen on CNN International, he had
been harrassing and stalking women, and had even been taken to some
sort of mental heath facility for screening. Perhaps if these incidents
had been taken more seriously, his record would not have been considered
"clean".
(And maybe this kid would have gotten some help before it all
went to hell.)
-- Tom Swiss / tms(at)infamous.net / www.infamous.net / www.unreasonable.org
"What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?" - Nick Lowe
"Power to the Peaceful" - Michael Franti