Japan: Gun Control Laws Fail to Protect 18 More People

In Japan for reasons pertrainig the greater good of public safety, the government has passed a total ban on any firearms. As a consequence gun control in Japan is the most strict in the entire democratic world.

The weapons law begins by stating 'No-one shall possess a firearm or fire-arms or a sword or swords', and very few exceptions are allowed. Civilians can never own handguns. Small calibre rifles were once legal, but in 1971, the Government forbade all transfers of rifles. Current rifle license holders may continue to own them, but their heirs must turn them into the police when the license-holder dies.

However, all the anti-gun laws in the books could not prevent the tragedy that happened in Tokyo today. Why? Because the criminal used a kitchen knife in his murder spree.

So unless the Japanese government plans to ban Santoku knives, it looks like the anti-gun laws they have in the books are useless in stopping a bunch of people being killed by a determined madman. And even then, the only effect of putting knives on the ban list will cause sushi prices to go through the roof while criminals will switch to baseball bats or crowbars.

Can you imagine a Japanese chef whos knives are banned, trying to slice the tuna for sashimi with karate chops?


Man Plows Into Crowd, Goes On Stabbing Rampage; 7 Reported Dead

Sunday, June 08, 2008TOKYO — A Japanese man rammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers, jumped out and went on a stabbing spree in Tokyo's top electronics district Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding 12 others. A news report said a seventh victim had died.The deadly lunchtime assault paralyzed the Akihabara neighborhood, which is wildly popular among the country's cyber-wise youth. The killings were the latest in a series of grisly knifings that have stoked fears of rising crime in Japan.A 25-year-old man, Tomohiro Kato, was apprehended in the attack. Local news reports initially said the man was a self-proclaimed mobster, but national broadcaster NHK later said the suspect was not a gang member."The suspect told police that he came to Akihabara to kill people," said Jiro Akaogi, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. "He said he was tired of life. He said he was sick of everything."The violence began when he crashed a rented, two-ton truck into pedestrians. News reports said he jumped out and began stabbing the people he'd knocked down with the truck, then turned on horrified onlookers.Police confirmed six deaths — five men and one woman — but they could not say whether the victims had died of injuries from the truck or were stabbed to death. NHK reported that a seventh victim had died, but police could not immediately confirm that.Reports said the attacker grunted and roared as he slashed and stabbed at Sunday shoppers crowding a street lined with huge stores packed with computers and other advanced electronics, and the latest in video and computer games."He was screaming as he was stabbing people at random," an unidentified witness told NHK.The attack paralyzed the district. At least 17 ambulances rushed to the scene, and TV footage showed rescue workers tending to victims in the street.Once rare, stabbing attacks have become more frequent in Japan in recent years as violent crime has increased.In March, one person was stabbed to death and at least seven others were hurt by a man who went on a slashing spree — with two knives — outside a shopping mall in eastern Japan. In one of the worst attacks, a man with a history of mental illness burst into an elementary school in Japan in 2001 and killed eight children. The killer was executed in 2004.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,364321,00.html