Japan and gun crime?

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Rinima
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Japan and gun crime?

#1 Post by Rinima »

Hey, random topic but oh well.

See, I'm having a discussion with someone on gun crime in Japan vs USA and was wondering which country actually has the worst gun related crime.

Before people point me to the surveys ect that say Japan has the lest amount of gun related deaths / guns per person, I've already seen these, an interesting point was borough up about the Yuzaka.

Basically, I'm asking people who live/visit/have lived in Japan what is it like in Japan without all the stats in terms of guns amd gun crime?
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#2 Post by Hyraculon »

Are you actually proposing that the numbers don't matter and Japan secretly has all kinds of yakuza gun violence you're just not hearing about? I should think one look at the aforementioned statistics would put an end to your discussion.

Since you're asking for an anecdotal answer, as an American who lives in Japan I can tell you that no, gun crime is not a major problem here, and trying to compare it to the problems we have with that back in the States is frankly laughable. Though there are some exceptions to the prohibition of firearms in Japan (apparently a lot of farmers in my area are permitted to have them for shooting wild animals in their rice fields), most Japanese people I have spoken to on the subject are openly disdainful of guns and gun ownership.

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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#3 Post by TrickWithAKnife »

I also live in Japan and I don't know any Japanese people who have used a real firearm. To be fair though, it's not something I usually ask about.

I can't imagine gun crime in a place with extremely restrictive gun control laws would come close to in a country where owning a gun is far less difficult to do.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/0 ... _0zF8WSyqg
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#4 Post by seitensei »

Because Gun access is not rampant in Japan, my understanding (from living there) is that guns don't have the same threat/deterrent functionality as they might elsewhere. You might look into the rates of crime involving melee implements as an analog- bats, knifes, and the like.

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#5 Post by LVUER »

Yeah, because of gun law. There's also very few gun crime in my country simply because they're not widely accessible.
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#6 Post by ThisIsNoName »

Well, I know you asked for no statistics, but just to hammer the point home: "In 2008, the U.S. had over 12 thousand firearm-related homicides. All of Japan experienced only 11".

Edit: Just realized I should probably try to add to the discussion.
I live in the U.S., so I can't comment on Japanese gun crime. But to compare, it's gotten to the point that my family sometimes gets school shootings mixed up because there have been so many of them. Right now, one of my friends is in prison for shooting his dad in the back. And earlier this year, there was a murder/suicide involving a shoot out. I live in a fairly small town. Yeah, gun violence in the US is that bad.

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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#7 Post by PyTom »

I'll note the number has dropped substantially. According to the FBI, the number was down to 8,583 in 2011.
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#8 Post by Sharm »

It bothers me when people ask questions like this. Most of the time it's the wrong question and can be really misleading. Is gun crime lower in Japan than it is in the US? Of course, there are less guns in Japan. Does this lack of gun crime lower the numbers for overall violent crime? No. People who want to harm others don't just stop because they can't find a specific weapon, they just find a different weapon to use. You know, I've heard that gun crime in Switzerland is much lower than both the US and Japan and pretty much every male over a certain age owns a gun there. They have the lowest homicide rate in the world. There are a lot of factors involved in something like that, you can't point to one country and say that one aspect is what makes it the way it is.
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#9 Post by Rinima »

Hyraculon wrote:Are you actually proposing that the numbers don't matter and Japan secretly has all kinds of yakuza gun violence you're just not hearing about? I should think one look at the aforementioned statistics would put an end to your discussion.
Well, I'm not actually proposing it, someone else on-line is.
Sharm wrote:It bothers me when people ask questions like this. Most of the time it's the wrong question and can be really misleading. Is gun crime lower in Japan than it is in the US? Of course, there are less guns in Japan. Does this lack of gun crime lower the numbers for overall violent crime? No. People who want to harm others don't just stop because they can't find a specific weapon, they just find a different weapon to use. You know, I've heard that gun crime in Switzerland is much lower than both the US and Japan and pretty much every male over a certain age owns a gun there. They have the lowest homicide rate in the world. There are a lot of factors involved in something like that, you can't point to one country and say that one aspect is what makes it the way it is.
Yea, I know, and I can get why these questions can be misleading, but for now, please can we keep to my original question?
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#10 Post by Sharm »

Nothing I said was meant to be directed at you, I should have been clearer about that. My apologies. I thought the point of the thread was to have a discussion about it. There's not a lot of people in this forum who've lived in Japan so there's not going to be many comments otherwise. I expect TrickWithAKnife's experience is going to be they same type of info you're likely to get on what it's personally like there. With such a small sampling of the populous, personal experiences aren't going to tell you much. A lot of it is going to depend on the type of neighborhood someone lives in and what kind of company they keep.

I guess what I'm confused about is what type of information you're looking for. Do you want to know if there's information that anyone living there would know but wouldn't show up in some sort of stats thing? Kind of like how people know to avoid the house of the dangerous person living in the neighborhood but he's never been arrested or anything. Do you want a better idea of how safe or unsafe people feel? Are you looking for a way to compare experiences of what you expect from daily living and running into those types of crimes and theirs? It doesn't matter to me, since I've never lived there, but people who have might be able to give you better answers if he knows what it is you're wanting to find out.
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#11 Post by Rinima »

Sharm wrote:Nothing I said was meant to be directed at you, I should have been clearer about that. My apologies. I thought the point of the thread was to have a discussion about it.
Point, sorry, I may have gotten a tad defensive then >.<
Sharm wrote:Do you want a better idea of how safe or unsafe people feel?
That is my question pretty much. Basically, I'm trying to find out which country people feel more unsafe in in terms of guns, Japan, or America.
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#12 Post by Sharm »

Ah, you're fine. I didn't choose my words very well. Well, the US is a really big place compared to Japan, it might be useful to know more about how different people from around the US feel too.

As for me, I live in a basement apartment in a suburban middle class and fairly religious neighborhood. Most of the people who live here are large families and grandparents. Younger couples and single people are more rare. Even though I live alone I feel pretty safe. I do worry about thieves and rowdy teens who've been partying too late, but I don't worry about them carrying a gun. The only person I know who's been injured by a gun is my brother's ex. She got a shell casing caught in her flack jacket in basic training and it burned her shoulder. I don't know anyone who's been threatened or injured by another person with a gun.

Is that more the type of information you're wanting to know from the people who live in Japan?
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#13 Post by Rinima »

Sharm wrote:Is that more the type of information you're wanting to know from the people who live in Japan?
Pretty much :)
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#14 Post by LVUER »

Sharm wrote:It bothers me when people ask questions like this. Most of the time it's the wrong question and can be really misleading. Is gun crime lower in Japan than it is in the US? Of course, there are less guns in Japan. Does this lack of gun crime lower the numbers for overall violent crime? No. People who want to harm others don't just stop because they can't find a specific weapon, they just find a different weapon to use. You know, I've heard that gun crime in Switzerland is much lower than both the US and Japan and pretty much every male over a certain age owns a gun there. They have the lowest homicide rate in the world. There are a lot of factors involved in something like that, you can't point to one country and say that one aspect is what makes it the way it is.
It's not like not having a gun will actually lower the crime... but it's easier to kill people with gun, just that. And having gun have some... mysterious effect. You'll know that when you see people do strange things when holding/possessing a gun.
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Re: Japan and gun crime?

#15 Post by Sharm »

My point wasn't that having lots of guns lowers crime, my point was that there isn't a clear cause and effect between guns and gun crime and you can easily find evidence supporting both sides of the argument. Personally, I think the number one cause of gun crimes is cultural.
. . . having gun have some... mysterious effect. You'll know that when you see people do strange things when holding/possessing a gun.
You know, I've heard people say that before but no one who's actually seen that sort of effect first person. It seems to all be heard from somewhere undefinable. I know lots of people who own guns and haven't seen anything like that. Maybe it's more true if someone isn't familiar with it and treats it like something strange and powerful instead of just a really dangerous mechanical device. I have seen that effect with other things though, like cars or knives, so maybe it's less to do with the object and more to do with the person.
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