————— Forwarded Message —————

RE: Sam Francis: Gun control is global flop

Sam Francis

September 8, 2000

Gun control is global flop

The most recent crusades for gun control seem to have fizzled, and
that’s just as well, not only for the sake of the freedom and
safety
of most Americans, but also for the public reputations of those who
push the banning of firearms. There is an ever-increasing amount of
evidence that gun control is a failure, not only in the United
States
but in other countries, too.

The ancient and honorable nation of Japan has the distinction of
enjoying perhaps the most rigorous gun-control laws in the world
outside of communist states. With no tradition whatsoever of
individual liberty and a powerful tradition of placing the
integrity
of the group — family and nation — over the individual, Japanese
lawmakers have never felt the slightest hesitation in outlawing
most
gun ownership and punishing severely those who break the laws.

In Japan, even possessing a handgun and a bullet puts you in prison
for 15 years. Other laws have been tightened and toughened since
1991, and even armored car guards don’t carry firearms. Only police
officers and soldiers can carry guns at all, and the cops have to
leave their guns in a safe when they leave work.

According to gun-control dogmas, that should pretty much keep gun
violence down. But it doesn’t, in Japan anymore than in this
country.
The Washington Post recently carried a report on the increasing
incidence of gun violence in the Land of the Rising Gun.

The number of crimes committed with handguns last year was higher
than in any year since records have been kept, and the rate this
year
threatens to be even higher. An administrator in Japan’s National
Police Agency told the Post, “Since 1994 or 1995 there’s been a
clear
change; the guns are now becoming dispersed in the population. We
are
worried about it. Crimes are becoming more violent, more serious.
And
handguns are very efficient weapons for that.” So much for the
effectiveness of gun control.

The people in Japan who do have guns are the members of the
“yakuza,”
as the Japanese organized crime cartel is known. As the Post
reports:
“The yakuza are the exception. Experts believe most of the
estimated
80,000 underworld members have weapons, and police have been unable
or unwilling to dent that figure.” Does that remind you of
anything?
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

Japan, however, is not the only gun-controlling society to sport
rising gun violence. The same is true in Australia, where a new law
last year confiscated virtually all handguns in the country and
destroyed them. It doesn’t matter. Now violent crimes committed by
guns are on the rise Down Under.

One year after the mass confiscation of handguns, homicides in
Australia have increased 3.2 percent. Assaults have risen by 8.6
percent, and armed robberies have increased by a whopping 44
percent.
In one state (Victoria), homicides with firearms have risen 300
percent, despite the government ban. The figures on armed robberies
are especially instructive, since these crimes in particular had
been
falling for some 25 years. Now all of a sudden, with privately
owned
guns outlawed, they start increasing dramatically.

Similar statistics come from Great Britain, long the gun
controllers’
showcase country. There, where privately owned handguns were
effectively banned a few years ago after a mass shooting by a
crazed
homosexual, crime figures show an increase in England and Wales for
the first time in six years. The number of robberies, mostly
mugging,
increased by 19 percent. Violent offenses increased by 5 percent,
and
sexual offenses rose by 2 percent. Statistics from the Home Office
show that the City of London suffered the greatest increase in
crime
— 22 percent.

In the United States, however, violent crime continues to fall, for
reasons no one seems to be able to figure out. The high rate of
incarceration and the ageing of the criminal population are often
cited, but the increase in conceal carry laws, which let
law-abiding
citizens carry concealed firearms, is not often mentioned as
reasons
for the drop in violent crimes in this country. University of
Chicago
economist John Lott is one expert who’s shown there is a very real
link between the decline of violent crime and the availability of
firearms; his book, “More Guns, Less Crime,” has been virtually
ignored by the establishment media..

But the connection ought to be obvious enough. When law-abiding
people have guns and criminals know they have them, it’s the
criminals who have reason to be afraid, and they pick on softer
targets that can’t shoot back. When guns are criminilized, as in
most
crime-ridden American cities and in countries like Japan, Australia
and Great Britain, only the yakuza and its cousins around the world
will have guns, and it’s the law-abiding who have to live in fear.

C2000 Creators Syndicate, Inc.