Japan has strict gun control - why does it work over there??
You are assuming a causal relationship between the gunban and low crime rates?
In Japan, yes.
Why would gun control stop crime in Japan? They could always use samurai swords. And if they banned those, they could always use karate.
Japanese people love guns, a lot of them enjoy a shooting range when they come to the USA.
No one has answered my question yet
What about crimes committed by the government? For example, taxation is armed robbery. Why is the Japanese government (the new samurai class, obviously) allowed to have guns but nobody else is allowed to have them? They want to make it impossible for people to defend themselves against the government.
…that’s not the answer i’m looking for. I’m asking you why is Japan crime rate so low after they implemented strict gun control.
Because the government is organized crime. They just get to “legalize” their actions. My guess is that the government has become more oppressive (higher taxes, more intervention in private affairs, etc.), so there is not really a decrease in crime. The government is just playing word games.
Well, since we’re being very unspecific here, I’ll say this: gun control is just one among many factors that influence crime rates. If you live in a society in which “anti-social” (read: criminal) mindsets are discouraged and punished from early childhood on, banning the tools to commit crimes may not have the same adverse effect that it may exert in societies that are more prone to crime and violence.
It’s all about ceteris paribus. Would the Japanese people be safer with guns than without? Praxeology confirms this, but it can’t answer to which extent this would be the case. What it does tell us is that the Japanese people are not safe because of, but despite their anti-gun policies.
Unless you can show why the laws of human action do not apply to Japan, just appealing to its low crime rates will not do you any good.
why is Japan crime rate so low after they implemented strict gun control
Was the crime rate in Japan high before gun control? Just because the crime rate is low in Japan and Japan has gun control dosent mean that gun control has lowered crime. There are countless factors that affect the crime rate.
…that’s not the answer i’m looking for
Save us some time and tell us what is the answer you are looking for. It seems that you already have one in mind and any other explanation from us would be found lacking.
Sphairon gave an answer that was what I was looking for - childhood upbringing. I never said that I support gun control, I was just wondering why it seems to work in Japan.
What other factors lower crime in Japan? i was surprised how crimes didn’t increase in the lost decade (2 lost decades to be specific).
Swiss has loosy gun control - why there isn’t a civil war there?
Even in the US, you can see that gun control leads to more crimes by the government. States with fascist gun control laws like California have higher taxes (bigger/more frequent armed robbery by the government) and much bigger governments than states like Alabama. Why? Because states like California can get away with higher taxes when its subjects are defenseless. That’s the whole point of gun control.
I don’t believe in gun control either - but someone brought this up when I was discussing it with him. And from what I have gathered there is a strict gun control in Japan and the lowest crime rate amongst the first world nations. That is why I was curious why it seemed to work.
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents were rounded up and exterminated.
"In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians were rounded up and exterminated.
"Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945,13 million Jews and others were rounded up and exterminated.(see Footnote)
"China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents were rounded up and exterminated.
"Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981,100,000 Mayan Indians were rounded up and exterminated.
"Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979,300,000 Christians were rounded up and exterminated.
“Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977,one million ‘educated’ people were rounded up and exterminated.”
I never said i support gun control, what I asked was why it seemed to work in Japan. You’re the only one here who has not contributed to the discussion, only made some comments that is not related to what i asked.
that last comment was for vitor.
My comments were related, just not in your face related.
So, there is very little to hunt in Japan and no extremely isolated areas, unlike the USA, so this reduces somewhat the need a japanese person may feel for a gun. Not much of a gun culture, although they appreciate guns in sort of a geeky and fearful fashion.
And they have a thing for obeying authority and not enjoying the hassle of doing something prohibited. But Im sure the guys from Yakuza and such have no big problems getting some toys, if there is a real demand for something, government prohibition easily fails, but in this case the goverment prohibited something that the people don’t have an urge for.
The reason is simple. Japan, very much like China, implemented weapons control at a very early age.
For example during the Edo period ouside of the warrior and noble castes the only persons allowed to own weapons were the village chiefs and a few others (mostly government agents of various kinds). Not even ordinary policemen were allowed to have weapons: they were armed with sticks and a strange device meant to stop cutting weapons whose name now eludes me. Anyone found in possession of a weapon could expect no mercy. Of course criminals always found ways around this.
At least the government of the time was honest about weapons control: it was done to discourage popular riots, very common during that period of history. A small band of (relatively) well armed and trained bushi could put down a peasant uprising quickly. It must be remembered that despite all the present jazz about samurai and ninja possessing superhuman powers, Japan up to the XIX century was a pathetic military power. The shogun ruling the country could not afford a standing army apart from his personal household and wanted each daimyo (feudal noble/warlord) to have as few bushi as possible. Once the Chinese/Mongolian threat evaporated and once the Tokugawa family gained complete control of the country these reforms were accelerated.
It must also be remembered that traditionally Japanese authorities have had all sorts of “tacit agreements” with criminal cartels. This stems from the aforementioned lack of resources which plagued Japan for centuries. If criminals “keep to their own” and don’t become too much of a nuisance they are usually left alone. That’s why “self-policing” became an integral part of the Japanese criminal culture with elaborate rituals and even a sort of “dressing code” for members of organized crime cartels.
Of course this doesn’t mean criminals don’t get their hands on firearms: they do. They are smuggled from Russia or, much more frequently, US military installations. But firearms are usually reserved for “special occasions”. Criminals usually prefer “dirt cheap” weapons, like ordinary kitchen knifes. They are easy to obtain and kill silently. The society at large must know as little as possible if you catch my drift.
The fact that they are a homogeneous nation, people may be socially scolded for having guns. Plus police have way more power over in Japan. If I heard correctly, they can hold you for 48 hours if suspected of crime. That is going to cut down on crime rates. Plus the Japanese have a very socially permissive culture and are not as quick to snap, hence not having a gun there would be less violent shootings. I don’t have any empirical evidence, just speculation. Historically, the Japanese have had a pretty rigid social caste system, with only the higher, non-peseant population having access to “weapons”. It is ingrained in their culture, hence it works unlike the U.S.