You probably know someone who thinks that all we need to eliminate violence in society is stricter gun control. Take away EVERYBODY'S guns, and, voila! Violent crime will be completely and totally eliminated, and we'll all sit around the campfire singing Kum Ba Ya forever.
Uh, yeah. Why don't we ask the Japanese how well it's working out for them?
A man plowed into shoppers with a truck Sunday and then stabbed 17 people within minutes, killing at least seven of them in a grisly attack that shocked a country known for its low crime rate.Gun control? Did I say gun control? I meant knife control!
The lunchtime violence in the Akihabara district, a popular electronics and video game area, sent thousands of people fleeing.
The assault, which occurred on the seventh anniversary of a mass stabbing at a Japanese elementary school, was the latest in a series of knife attacks that have stoked fears of rising violent crime in Japan.
But stabbings, once rare in the country, have become more frequent in recent years.
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 January, a 16-year-old boy attacked five people in a shopping area, injuring two of them.
A spate of knife attacks also have occurred in schools, the worst on June 8, 2001 when a man with a history of mental illness burst into elementary school near Osaka killing eight children. He was executed in 2004.
C'mon people! You can ban the tools of violence all the live-long day. But you'll never be able to ban the evil that lurks in the hearts of those who would kill their fellow man. Ban guns? Fine, they'll use knives. Ban knives? Fine, they'll use pesticides, or improvised explosives, or...
Don't you see? When you outlaw guns, you succeed only in taking away a means of defense from the law abiding. You'll never stop violent crime through disarmament. A .45 slug through the head? Now THAT will stop a violent crime!
