President Joe Biden, who has never failed to demonstrate a certain insensitivity, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, did not disappoint critics in the wake of the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The body of the prime minister was still warm when Biden decided to take advantage of the situation for a purely political purpose.
Abe was gunned down during a campaign speech on July 8 after which Biden raised the issue of gun control in the U.S. While Biden did extend his condolences to the Japanese people, he also praised the country’s strict gun control laws. Not only does Biden seem oblivious to the fact that even in a country with strict gun control laws, those laws did nothing to prevent the shooter from carrying out his evil intent.
Also oblivious to Japan’s gun control history, Biden exclaimed, “One thing did strike my attention that this is the first use of a weapon to murder someone in Japan and I think we have thus far have 3,000 … don’t hold me to the numbers … 688, or between three to four thousand cases; they have one.”
Biden is correct that Japan, for the most part, is not plagued by evildoers brandishing guns. A country of 170 million has been successful in almost completely eliminating gun deaths, reducing them to 10 per year. Contributing to this is Japan’s implementation of a battery of tests applicants must pass before gaining access to a small pool of guns.
However, gun control laws did not deter those in Japan dedicated to killing from doing so – and where they have, other ways have always been found to achieve the same end.
In 1995, the colorless and highly toxic nerve gas sarin was released into Tokyo’s subway system by a domestic terrorist group, killing 13 and injuring 5,500.
In 2021, Japan recorded almost 700 murders – a figure which has declined to 318 in 2020. But what cannot be ignored is the credit due to a fully funded police department. Unlike Japan – where a robust police force enjoys public support, thus trending Japan’s murder rate in the right direction – Biden ignores a trend in the wrong direction in the U.S. as a result of Democrats’ support for defunding police.
Another factor in Japan’s low murder rate is the purity of its population. Japan is listed as being among those countries having the toughest immigration laws. Thus domestic unrest based on conflicting cultures has been avoided.
But perhaps most significant in Japan is a tradition that has been deeply ingrained upon the Japanese people. Whether imposed upon them by emperors before World War II or freely opting for it after World War II as a democratic nation, Japan has long remained a structured society.
The Japanese have long been influenced by “Bushido” which is the code of honor of the samurai warrior. It has been embedded within the cultural DNA of Japanese citizens for centuries and remains so today. It is this code of honor that has been witnessed by the outside world time and again after natural tragedies have struck Japan. While hit with devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, destroying homes and businesses, these occurrences seem not to unleash looters or other criminals to prey upon society.
Japanese society has learned to place great importance upon factors America used to cherish, such as loyalty, politeness, personal responsibility and everyone working together for the greater good. Highly valued are traits such as hard work, education, ambition, patience and determination.
So dominant was the honor code engrained upon Japan’s citizenry, there were stories of their soldiers stationed on islands during World War II committed to never surrendering. They had been taught that the code did not permit surrender, and so isolated were they that they did not know Japan had surrendered. Accordingly, they continued to patrol the jungles as ordered. Many may well have perished on these islands, unknown but to God. The last known soldier to finally return home surrendered in 1974 – 29 years after the war ended.
Another factor to consider in Japan’s successful gun control today are the limitations imposed upon it as a defeated nation when World War II ended. All personal weapons had to be surrendered to U.S. forces. Additionally, a Japanese military that had demonstrated such brutality as it swept through Asia was neutered as far as having any capability to threaten the outside world again. The country’s military today is strictly limited to a defensive role.
There are so many factors that have come into play enabling Japan to achieve such a low murder rate involving guns. But it is outrageous for Biden to tout Japan’s gun control laws in a vacuum as the sole factor in this achievement. If he truly wants to see the U.S. accomplish the same success, he should be challenged to mirror what Japan has done.
This will never happen as doing so would run afoul of so many convictions, such as open borders, that the Democrats would refuse to reject.
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