gun control in Japan

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gaseousclay

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https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729

The above article is from 2017. Of course, I don't agree with the article as it relates to gun ownership but it's an interesting case study.

I used to live in Japan when my dad was in the military and my mother lives there currently. While it is true that gun crime is virtually non-existent there, the key takeaway that the author leaves out is that in the event of an invasion from a hostile nation, say from North Korea, Russia or China, Japan would have to be protected by the US military.....the country with the guns. The US has been a nuclear umbrella for Japan since after WW2 and will continue to be for years to come. I applaud Japan for it's road to pacifism but I think it's short-sighted. Japan's Self-Defense Force is a blip compared to the US Armed Forces and would not be able to actually 'defend' itself without our help. Pacifism has also been embedded into Japanese culture, whereas, the US is a country of many cultures that coalesces around a single American culture. Ironic that Howa and Miroku are known for making high-quality firearms for non-Japanese companies.
 
I thought I had read that recently Japan had begun beefing up their military due to Trump's insistence and the Chinese threat?
 
I suppose that's possible, but Japan's Constitution limits their Self-Defense forces as is. Not sure what 'beefing up' means in the context of China or its neighbors. Japan would still require its allies to help if the threat of war were to happen.
 
Abe and his group are beefing up their military strength and some folks are going nuts!

Crime is tricky in Japan. If you know all your victims are disarmed and the police have been told to stay out of your way, how many guns do you need?

On the other hand, if you are taking out a Chinese or North Korean gang boss by gun and you dispose of the body, was a gun crime committed?

Access to guns by criminals seeking advancement or retribution through murder is the problem in the US. Guns are not the problem here, it is thee we use of murder as a tool of advancement and retribution. In Japan, if a criminal were to use a gun against a fellow Japanese, I believe his own family would get rid of him. .....maybe send him to LA. It would be an extreme disgrace to act so out of control.
 
Guns are truly rare in Japan. Crime in general is rare. 1-1 is that gun crime is extremely rare.
That said, there are guns.
I did see some hunters with what looked like a shotgun packing out a bear one day while I was riding my bike around the hinter lands.
Wish I'd stopped and chatted them up.

Japan has been beefing up its security forces over the past 5 years not b/c of Trump, but because of Chinese gov't saber rattling.
 
Ironic that Howa and Miroku are known for making high-quality firearms for non-Japanese companies.
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Miroku and Howa make high quality metal and wood sculptures that just happen to also be firearms. Beautiful metal work, beautiful wood work, terrible ergonomics.

Howa, actually, has been a military arms maker for a long time. Making civilian sporting firearms is just a sideline and is almost exclusively for export.
 
If you think Japan is strict, look at Singapore; you can't even bring chewing gum into the country; guns? Not happening
 
Japan is a different culture where adherence to rules is an absolute expectation. There's little tolerance for anyone who goes out of the norm. You don't disrespect anyone, you don't disrupt the quiet, you don't disrespect history, etc., etc. Crime is very low as a result, because upbringing is very strict.

I went into a 7-Eleven when I was there, picking up a drink to start out my day and a lady cut in line. The 7-Eleven employee tore her to shreds and forced her to get to the back of the line. He wasn't having any part of that. The culture doesn't allow for any disrespect. I'm sure it happens, but I never saw anything outside of this event at 7-Eleven and it didn't go well at all.

Suicides are pretty high in Asian countries, but even if they had guns, they wouldn't turn them on others like in other parts of the world. Japan as a whole is a poor example of reducing gun crime by eliminating guns. There isn't much with knives and rocks either. Hasn't worked nearly as well for other parts of Europe, Australia, etc. If anything, crimes gone way up.
 
The BBC article lists the number of firearm related deaths in the USA which includes suicides . What I didn't see was a reference to the high suicide rate in Japan, which is among the highest in the world and is typically higher that the USA. So are deaths by means other than firearms acceptable in Japan? Probably not, but this article ignores that discussion.
 
LeverGunFan said:
The BBC article lists the number of firearm related deaths in the USA which includes suicides . What I didn't see was a reference to the high suicide rate in Japan, which is among the highest in the world and is typically higher that the USA. So are deaths by means other than firearms acceptable in Japan? Probably not, but this article ignores that discussion.
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Like anything else around this agenda. If it involves a gun the person is referred to as a gunman, if anything else, it's assailant. So yeah, it doesn't matter!
 
Japan is a different culture where adherence to rules is an absolute expectation. There's little tolerance for anyone who goes out of the norm. You don't disrespect anyone, you don't disrupt the quiet, you don't disrespect history, etc., etc. Crime is very low as a result, because upbringing is very strict.
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While this is true most of the time, younger generations seem to be drifting further away from cultural norms. When I was a college student in Japan I definitely had other Japanese students disrespect me out of a sense of superiority. They have their own social heirarchy for lack of a better term, just like most countries. My mom's family are a bunch of farmers from northern Japan and i've had people make slights against me because of that. Tradition is important but the Japanese revere Western countries like the US because of our individuality and tendency to buck the rules.
 
There was a study out of the math department of U. C. Irvine in, IIRC, 2013, that asked whether, at the two extremes, confiscating guns or arming everybody would result in the lower level of violent crime. Their modeling showed either one could result in lower violent crime rate under the right circumstance. Which one did best depended on how many guns the bad guys have. If the bad guys have too many (and they already do in this country), then arming everyone will bring about significantly lower violent crime rates than confiscation can. Japan's criminals don't have a lot of guns and never have, and that's key to their strict gun laws helping contain gun violence.

In other words, the NRA was right all along: if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns, and if they have too many, confiscating guns from law abiding citizens will make it easier for outlaws to commit violent crimes, so they will.
 
Japan is an interesting case study regarding gun ownership, self defense, and society as a whole. Of all the East Asian nations, it is the most like the United States regarding rule of law, capitalism, capital punishment, all volunteer military, etc. S. Korea isn't far behind, but they have a mandatory military service, so every male has firearms experience.

Unfortunately, SK has even stricter gun laws, which to me makes no sense because when the north is just miles away and all the kidnappings they have in the south, you'd think conceal carry would be demanded.

Very different in Japan, they're an island nation and a large one too. While I disagree with their lack of gun ownership, I understand it. What should be more popular there that surprises me isn't is hunting, especially considering how since the end of WW2 people have been moving into cities and the rural areas have become more rural, so there's plenty of game up in the mountains.

Look, it's their world, not ours, and I don't have much say in the matter. As a fan of shooting sports I wish everyone would have access to be able to own/shoot modern guns, even if they have to leave them at the local police department when they are not being used at a range.
 
I’ve been in several gun stores in Japan and even been to a shooting range. Even so, it is rare.

The gun stores were both in Tokyo area. One guy was talking to me quite a bit about taking the test. My rough translation of our conversation is that I could pass the test and buy a shotgun. To buy a rifle took another test, I believe. I explained I had a foreigner card, but he was sure I could still get one.

In the end, my ability to read Japanese was going to dead end this process! If I remember right, prices were much more than US prices.

https://reachingjapan.com/4-month-process-buying-gun-japan/

Sounds like just common sense gun control!:confused:
 
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speaking of pacifism after WW2, look at what has happened to Germans. the race that twice almost ruled the world is now overrun by immigrants from non-European countries and the Germans are ok with it as a whole, they put Merkel in after all. and gun ownership is for the connected and wealthy, not the everyday man. There was a former military policeman from Germany, actually lived in Germany and had a Youtube gun channel reviewing guns and nothing tactical at all, but had to stop his videos because of the political climate about guns there. well, this is becoming political instead of about guns, but Germany has very strict gun laws, which is ironic considering the civilian population was used as a last resort during WW2 and the other occurrences of unarmed civilians being slaughtered.....
 
Ironic that Howa and Miroku are known for making high-quality firearms for non-Japanese companies.
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While many folks point this irony out, based on my experience, it makes perfect sense. Japanese companies work hard to produce a product very accurate to the drawing nominals and also to deliver a product with excellent fit, finish and feeling of the controls.
 
Of all the East Asian nations, it is the most like the United States regarding rule of law, capitalism, capital punishment, all volunteer military, etc.
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speaking of pacifism after WW2, look at what has happened to Germans.
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Both nations were the militarist aggressors who began WWII and both nations LOST the war AND unlike every previous war, had their civilian population exposed to combat losses (bombing, and in Germany's case, also extensive ground combat) and THEN had their nations occupied by the military forces of their former enemies.

That will, and DOES produce a "cultural shift".

One can also find a cultural shift in the victor nations of that war as well. just in different directions and degrees.
 
44AMP: Those are interesting comments on Japan and Germany. I will counter that the populace of the Confederacy experienced the same. Occupation by a conquering force, extensive combat between invading forces and civilian citizens. Yet, the South did not experience a "cultural shift", though it may be happening now.
 
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