You Can Quote Me on This

When I lived in Japan (about two decades ago) there was a Japanese Exchange student (Yoshihiro Hattori) staying in Louisiana who was on his way to a Halloween party and went to the wrong house by accident.
The property owner, Rodney Peairs, shot and killed Hattori, thinking he was trespassing with criminal intent. The controversial homicide and Peairs's subsequent acquittal in the state court of Louisiana, received worldwide attention. (Story here)

The people I worked with and my English language students were appalled by this (it was big news in Japan) and I can't remember how many times I was asked: "Why do Americans all have guns?" or "Why do Americans love guns?"

My answer (which was true at the time) was that no one in my family owned a gun and I didn't know anyone with a gun. I also said I was deeply uncomfortable with guns and hoped some day legislation would change so that firearms would be available only for hunters and police. (Side note: Japanese police, by and in large, do not carry guns. Private citizens are forbidden, by law, to have a gun.) My entire time in Japan I never saw a gun. Not on a police officer, or even on military soldiers who had a training base nearby.

As I've traveled - I've been asked repeatedly (and with great criticism) why Americans are such bullies, love violence and guns and feel the need to invade and police other countries.

Some of this is perpetuated by the export of Western (Hollywood) entertainment - where the only glimpse of life in America some people have is one of violent movies of gangsters, etc.

However, some of this comes from legitimate news sources as repeatedly other countries hear about senseless gun tragedies over and over from America. Sandy Hook. The mass shooting in Aurora in a movie theater. Virginia Tech. I could list more - but Wikipedia does that for me.

This week alone in our area a 15 year old boy accidentally shot and killed his 13 year old brother and the New Hope City Council meeting was interrupted by a man who shot two policemen before being killed by another police officer. His family identified him and said he was disgruntled man whose anger was bound to boil over and that they knew he was volatile.

I'm not saying that Japan, or any other country is without crime, volatile or mentally unstable people who want to harm others or downright evil people who want to hurt, violate or otherwise commit crime against others.

I'm not saying that accidents don't happen between siblings in other countries where one sibling accidentally injures another.

But the one indisputable difference between our country and all others is this:
a firearm was available to these people who should NEVER have had access to a gun.

You can quote me on this:

The difference between our country (the U.S.) and all others is that lethal weapons - high power hand guns and rifles - are so commonplace and readily available that impulsive, criminal or mentally unstable people and even children who don't understand their actions can (and do) easily kill others.

Here is a very compelling and interesting number:

The Congressional Research Service in 2009 estimated there were 310 million firearms in the U.S., not including weapons owned by the military. 114 million of these were handguns, 110 million were rifles, and 86 million were shotguns. In that same year, the Census bureau stated the population of people in the U.S. at 306 million.

Per capita we have MORE GUNS than we have PEOPLE in the United States.

This is why other countries shake their heads at Americans and wonder why we, as a culture, cannot better regulate guns, gun sales and who can possess these lethal weapons so that these frequent (and often senseless) tragedies could be prevented or at least the number of gun fatalities might decrease.

This is one of those times when the "grass is greener" living elsewhere..when I miss living in Japan or wish I could move my family to New Zealand..where instead of guns, the sheep outnumber the people.