Let's talk about gun control and the real underlying issue.

In America we constantly hear that our "gun culture" is responsible for excessive violence and we'd all be safter without such destructive weapons among us. Crime statistics from other more civilized nations are frequently quoted as proof of our miscreant ways. If I've learned anything yet in life, I've learned that one of life's truths is that people are just highly self-conscious animals that are still motivated by many of the same primal urges that motivate other less self-conscious animals in the world. Because we are self-aware and self-conscious, many people try to be generally "good" and "fair" to their peers, most people are indifferent, and some people are always looking for a way to gain advantage over others, usually at your expense. These observations of mine seem largely true of anyplace in the world, regardless of culture, government, and society. Man-made laws don't prevent this elemental state of humanity from existing just because laws are written on paper and enforced, after the fact, by a government. Laws regarding an individual's rights to self-protection do NOT make people safe, they ONLY deal with the consequences of violent actions that have already occurred. Why do so many people not understand this?

I correspond with people the world over, hopefully broadening my understanding of human behavior beyond the focused, agenda driven filters of media, special interest groups, and governments, with which we are all constantly bombarded. Discussions with real people from other cultures keep leading me to the conclusion that basic human behavior is quite similar the world over. News agencies, special interest groups, and political agendas can dress up "statistics" any way they want to, in hopes of getting the general population to adhere to a "bliss-ninny" worldview that abdicates individual responsiblities and rights over to others who are better suited to "protect" us and "look-out" for our interests. The harsh truth is that this mentality, whether bought or sold, is a dangerous illusion at best, and a vehicle for active repression at it's worst. America is not the last "old west" vestige of humanity's violent past, chewing itself up from the inside out. America is perhaps one of the only countries left in the world that still constitutionally recognizes that the only path to securing liberty is to keep rights and responsibilities with the individual. It is a tenuous but critical balance of power between yourself, your society, and your government. Abdicate those rights and responsibilities for whatever reason and you have NO immediately effective recourse, whatsoever, against those that would and could victimize you. Lawsuits are fine when you have the luxury of time to pursue justice against someone who has already harmed you. However, immediate attacks or threats to your life, and the life of your loved ones, do not afford you the luxury of time. In a time critical situation, you can only proact or react immediately with a reasoned response, and only if you have the power to do so. YOU are in the best position to protect your safety and well-being at any given moment; not the policeman somewhere out there in his patrol car, not the 911 operator at the other end of the phone line, not the elected representative spouting rhetoric about public safety and fighting for additional levels of legislation to "protect" you, not your peers, and not your neighbors. You SHOULD have control of your inherent right to protect yourself and your loved ones, and when you do, you MUST do it with responsibility and accept the consequences that will follow. Abuse your rights and responsibilities and you should be punished as a consequence. Excercise your rights and responsibilities and you should be left alone, period. The issue with violence in America is not guns, it is that our society is afraid to punish those that abuse their power, both on a personal and political level. We slip ever closer as a nation toward abdication of our rights and responsibilities because dealing with them, and their consequences, takes too much physical, mental and emotional effort. Wake up people, wake up world. I wore seatbelt long before it was required by law because it was a reasonable thing to do help insure my survival in case I was involved in a time critical auto accident. I carry accidental death life insurance to help financially protect my family incase I'm killed in some kind of unforseen accident (a time critical situation for me). I carry an effective means of protecting myself from serious violent harm from other people as part of the same strategy for living a happy, healthy, balanced life. To legally require my disarmament would be little different than telling me I cannot wear a seatbelt because I might use my car as a weapon in a roadrage incident against another car or person, and therefore I shouldn't have a good means of protecting myself from the crash to discourage me from endangering others. Anyway, onto an article I saw today about murders in Japan, a heavily disarmed society generally thought of by the media as having shed the ravages of social violence.

Spate of Child Killings Horrifies Japan By KANA INAGAKI, Associated Press Writer

Armed policemen patrol streets on the way to school, education officials draw up safety maps and young students carry alarms to call for help in an emergency. A spate of grisly crimes targeting schoolchildren has horrified Japan and dealt a serious blow to its image as a safe country for children.
The killings — one girl's corpse was stuffed into a box and another victim was stabbed a dozen times in the chest — have put authorities on alert and worried parents on edge.
This relatively peaceful country is reassessing such traditions as letting young children walk long distances to school on their own. Along with the school uniform and first book bag, the walk to school — sometimes taking 40 minutes in rural areas — has long been a rite of passage for children entering the first grade.
"I would never let my son go out alone. I like to have him around where I can keep an eye on him," said Tokyo housewife Naoko Ishibashi, mother of a 5-year-old. "These days, I feel worried when I see any child walking alone in the streets."
Education authorities and police are examining the routes children take to school, warning students about talking to strangers and establishing neighborhood "safe-houses" where kids can flee if they feel threatened.
Technology also is playing a part. Authorities are stepping up plans to provide children with special alarms and tracking devices, and to establish cell-phone networks to alert parents and children in an area when a threat is spotted.
The issue has attracted attention from the highest levels of Japanese government.
"Distressful and regrettable incidents have been occurring, and it's a problem that we need to take seriously," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said this week. "We need to strengthen cooperation between police, officials ... and families."
Crime in general has increased in Japan during the past decade of economic malaise, but the recent string of child-killings has been especially disturbing.
On Nov. 22, the strangled body of 7-year-old Airi Kinoshita was discovered taped inside a box on a parking lot in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan.
On Dec. 2, Yuki Yoshida, also 7, was found stabbed to death in a forest northeast of Tokyo.
The first killing generated fevered coverage in Japanese media when a Peruvian immigrant was arrested, fanning growing fears that increasing numbers of foreigners are responsible for rising crime.
No arrests have been made in the second killing.
The number of crimes against children in Japan edged up 2 percent from 2000 to 2004, but the number of murders increased 50 percent — from 20 in 2000 to 30 in 2004. The number of other serious crimes also is up.
In 2001, a man with a history of mental illness stabbed eight children at an elementary school near Osaka. Last year, an 11-year-old girl slashed a 12-year-old friend to death with a box-cutter during lunchtime.
Until the Osaka attack, schools prided themselves on being open to the community, with anyone able to enter the grounds. But that changed after the killings — educators locked campus gates, posted guards and set up round-the-clock surveillance.
The recent attacks have come outside of school grounds, meaning educators, police and parent groups have to work together to develop countermeasures, officials said.
But some authorities feel a sense of helplessness in trying to find ways to foil criminals intent on attacking young children.
"Even if you are going home in a group, there will be a child in the end who will need to go home alone," said Masumi Takeuchi, leader of Hiroshima's campaign against violence targeting children.
"Who will protect you in the end? It is not others, but only you that can protect yourself. This is the kind of awareness we need to develop."