On my friend Jen's blog, there was a discussion regarding the recent shooting of a civil servant and several others who died a very recent gun-related shooting incident in Arizona.
There are those who are in favour of restricting gun ownership (me), and there are those who feel that they should have the right to own a handgun "for protection" because it is in the constitution. I guess America still is the Wild Wild West where gunslingers abound, and you need a projectile weapon to protect your loved ones and property.
Anyway, be that as it may, Jen was asking how we do it here in Japan if we don't have guns to shoot each other in the head, and blow innocent children away at the pull of a trigger.
I have no idea if this blog will show up because everything in my Multiply has been wiped out, but if it is visible, well...
Maybe this will give you an idea how we kill each other in Japan:
Tuesday 11th January, 06:46 AM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/man-dies-wife-injured-in-knife-and-sickle-attack-in-tokyo-home
Tuesday 11th January, 09:00 AM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/osaka-restaurant-employee-arrested-over-murder-of-hyogo-couple
Monday 10th January, 09:28 AM JST
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/two-homeless-men-wanted-after-man-stabbed-outside-ikebukuro-station
http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/japanese-style-customer-service-winning-hearts-in-europe
I'm getting it, Cam.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
The thing that's important to note is the near total lack of the kind of mass killings we are so used to here in The States.
We have "going postal" as part of our lexicon, and it comes from the all too common occurrence of a disgruntled employee (originally it seemed to happen at post offices, hence the term) going into work and shooting and killing many people.
People who defend gun rights, say if there wasn't guns people can kill with knives or other weapons, as you've shown here.
However, a knife has to be used in close proximity and can only kill one person at a time. There's no way a killer in public could kill more than one, maybe two people before someone would subdue them.
In far too many instances here in the US guns with high capacity fire power are readily available and are used to kill many people in a matter of minutes... seconds even.
It's madness.
You can argue for rifles, shotguns, and pistols and i'd be ok with it, but there is NO earthly reason that a regular citizen should own such weapons of warfare. Their sole purpose is to kill as many HUMANS, and as quickly as possible.
That they are not outlawed for private citizens is an embarrassment for our country, which seems to be the only Western nation with such a violent reputation.
Yes but bombs seem to be the weapon of choice in other places, and they too take great casualties. Subway bombs in Paris, Moscow, London and of course Israel etc.
ReplyDeleteGuns are just one more vehicle to do mans dirty deeds.
Get to the source and cure the man, not the vehicle is my motto. Pay attention to signs, villages need to raise one another, the neighbors problems are indeed yours. We are too self absorbed to care about our fellow man. When we get to the root and love one another again, is when we will see a decrease in such terrible acts.
What do you mean your entire Multiply has been wiped out?
ReplyDeleteI went back 18 mos... and I can see you.
It's back, Stefnee (for me). But For about a day Paula and I could only see each other's one comment.
ReplyDeleteJen - They use vans or cars or trucks to do the mass killing; running over entire rows of school children walking to work, or driving into crowds at Akihabara, taking out half a dozen, and THEN jumping out and stabbing a bunch more.
You can run from a knife, you can survive a knife in many instances. But your chances of running from a bullet, or surviving the shock and damage of one are much less.
People don't hunt with handguns. They like to do target shooting and pretend they are Jack Bauer or some other mythical hero, and they fantasize they will be able to pull out that handgun, take off the safety, load it (or maybe they keep it loaded!!!) point, pull the trigger, and, while scared shitless, hit the villain. As my best friend Stefnee would say, *snort*. There is no longer a place for handguns in society, respectful of the "rights" or of the constitution or not.
Very true, Cam but so many seem to think they need them to protect hearth and home...
ReplyDeleteThose people are usually the ones who live in the safest areas ironically. *shrug*
And they have delusions of grandeur if they think they are actually going to succeed. People have watched too many movies and they think that handguns are easy to handle, and accurate. They're not. But, unless someone "executives" a mandate through, this debate will go on endlessly because people think it is their "rights" that are being taken away. And of course, nobody wants that.
ReplyDeleteat a party once-had to take down a guy that had a knife to a girls throat(he was tripping on acid and we didn't know it)...f'er cut my jacket before he fell,but he was flat on his back in abject fear in 2 seconds(he recovered his sanity REAL fast when taken down)
ReplyDelete....a handgun would have saved me a jacket repair
SO?
oh...and multiply did some updates...
ReplyDeleteseveral things on the net have had update hiccups recently
dad carries around the property when the coyote are around...it is still like that outside the cities...
ReplyDeletebut we're not going to go shooting at the idiots that keep smashing our mailbox with a baseball bat...don't even care to catch the fools(and do what with them? )
....just wait for them to grow up...their daddy s never gave them guns or taught them restraint either one