Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns From: [ACUS 10] at [WACCVM.SPS.MOT.COM] (Mark Fuller) Subject: [NRA] Japan and the Second Amendment Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 02:39:28 GMT A Clash of Cultures ... And a Potential Double Tragedy "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." -- Constitution, 2nd Amendment United States of America "No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords." -- Article 3, Law No. 6 Japan [from NRAction, July/93] On Sunday, May 23, a 12-member state court jury in Baton Rouge found Rodney Peairs not guilty of manslaughter in the tragic accidental Halloween shooting death of Yoshihiro Hattori. Thus concluded what has become known as the "Freeze Case." But the debate was far from over. The day after the jury verdict, nearly all the national Japanese newspapers ran editorials referring to the United States as "The Gun Society." As Yomiuri Shumbun, Japan's largest newspaper put it, "The pathology of life in The Gun Society is horrifying." The acquittal prompted broad agreement in Japan that America is a violent and dangerous place. In response, the Hattoris are circulating a petition in Japan and the United States calling on President Clinton to impose tight controls on gun ownership. From the Washington Post to the Atlanta Constitution to the Los Angeles Times and newspapers in between, the usual anti-gun media wasted no time in exploiting the case in editorials for the purpose of promoting more gun restrictions on law-abiding Americans. There is no proliferation of firearms among the Japanese citizenry and, thus, little gun violence, the media proclaims. If only Americans would adopt similar gun control laws, it would be a safer and less violent country, the gun control advocates say. If only America had laws like Japan's ... JAPAN -- LIFE WITHOUT THE "BILL OF RIGHTS" Those Americans so quick to refer to Japanese law to indict the 2nd Amendment right of law-abiding citizens to "keep and bear arms" have completely neglected what commentator Paul Harvey would call "the rest of the story" -- that is, the rest of the Bill of Rights. FREEDOM OF SPEECH: The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." In America, if the people don't like what their government is doing, they have a constitutional "freedom of speech" ... a right to express themselves. The individual takes precedence over government. But according to Matsumoto, a Tokyo University historian, there is "an assumption [in Japan] that the state is a prior and self-justifying entity, sufficient in itself. This results in a belief that ... the state should take precedence over the goals of other individuals and associations." A Japanese citizen who takes issue with his government commits a grave sin. The Japanese police consider all anti-government political activity as subversive. PROTECTION AGAINST UNLAWFUL SEARCH AND SEIZURE: The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects individuals from "unreasonable searches and seizures" and guarantees that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." This U.S. constitutional right "of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects" is not a right enjoyed by citizens of Japan. In his book, The Samurai, The Mountie, and The Cowboy, CATO Institute policy analyst David B. Kopel points out that the Japanese Police have "broad search and seizure powers." Japanese courts support such broad powers by permitting the use of illegally seized evidence. In a Congressional Record report (1968), U.S. Congressman William G. Bray notes that, in Japan, "every person is the subject of a police dossier." Twice a year, police conduct "home visits," checking on who lives where, what kind of work residents do, how much money they have, what kind of cars they own, and other personal information. Not only is there no right to bear arms in Japan. There is also, in very practical terms, no right to privacy against police searches. RIGHTS OF PERSONS ACCUSED OF CRIME The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states, "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury ... nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law ..." Furthermore, the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees that citizens accused of a crime "shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury ... to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the Witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." The rights of persons accused of a crime are further protected by the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." But don't expect those same rights in Japan. As Kopel explains in his book, a suspect in Japan may be detained without bail for up to 28 days before the prosecutor must bring the case before a judge. Even after the 28-day period is completed, detention in a Japanese police station may continue on a variety of pretexts, such as preventing the defendant from destroying evidence. Rearrest on another charge, according to Kopel, is a "common police tactic" for starting the suspect on an additional 28-day "interrogation" process. Some defendants may be held for several months without ever being brought before a judge. And while in detention, suspects may only meet for a few minutes a week with their defense counsel. Family visits may be completely denied. Suspects can be interrogated for up to 12 hours a day, allowed to bathe only once every five days, and may even be prohibited from standing up, lying down, or leaning against the wall of their cell. Amnesty International calls the Japanese police custody system a "flagrant violation of United Nations human rights principles." ("News and Notes," Criminal Justice International, 6, No. 5, Sept.-Oct. 1990) The result -- a high rate of confessions from Japanese suspects. Confessions that, in general, suspects are not allowed to even read before they sign them. Confessions that are even sometimes altered after signature. Explaining the high confession rate, a Tokyo police sergeant notes, "It is no use to protest against power." (The Japanese Police System Today: An American Perspective, Craig Parker, 1984) JAPANESE GUN LAWS -- LESS VIOLENCE? While the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees law-abiding Americans the "right to keep and bear arms," Japanese citizens have no such right. Japan is said to have the most stringent "gun control" in the democratic world. Handguns and rifles are illegal. Sportsmen are permitted to possess shotguns for hunting and for trap and skeet shooting, but only after submitting to a lengthy licensing procedure. Without a license, no one may own or operate or even hold a firearm. As a result, Japanese criminals are hungry for guns and their appetite is said by police to be growing. While law-abiding Japanese are denied the right to own a firearm, illegal guns are smuggled in from overseas by the same organized crime gangs that also import pornography, drugs and illegal immigrants. A number of Japanese craftsmen now specialize in converting toy and model guns into working handguns for criminals. (Yakuza, David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro, 1986) Yasushi Hari, a Japanese newspaper reporter, recently wrote, "It strikes me as clear that there is a distinct correlation between 'gun control' laws and the rate of violent crime. The fewer the guns, the less the violence." But America experienced falling crime and homicide rates in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1980s, all periods during which per capita gun ownership, especially handgun ownership, rose. ("The Relationship Between Gun Ownership Levels and Rates of Violence in the United States," in Firearms and Violence, Professor Gary Kleck) And Japan, with its severe "gun control," suffers no less murder than Switzerland, one of the most gun-intensive societies on earth. ("International Crime Rates," Bureau of Justice Statistics, Carol B. Kalish, 1988) And "gun control" doesn't necessarily mean fewer suicides. While the Japanese gun suicide rate is one-fiftieth of that in the United States, Japan's overall suicide rate is nearly twice as high as America's. (World Health Organization, "World Health Statistics," 1984) Japanese suicide victims, like their American counterparts, are disproportionally older males. American gun control advocates argue that more American males die from suicide attempts because males are more likely to choose a firearm as a suicide weapon. Yet in Japan, disarmed males are still more likely to die in a suicide attempt. American "gun control" advocates also point to guns as a cause of a high teenage suicide rate. Yet, teenage suicide is 30% more frequent in Japan than in the United States. MAKING TWO TRAGEDIES OUT OF ONE Last Halloween's shooting was indeed tragic, for both the Hattori family and that of Rodney Peairs. And it was a tragedy further heightened by vast differences between two cultures. It is no wonder why Japanese citizens and media have expressed outrage over the jury's decision to acquit Peairs of manslaughter. Aside from completely opposite rights regarding firearms, Peairs was afforded a number of other constitutional rights not enjoyed by Japanese. He was legally charged with a crime and released from jail until his trial, rather than being detained for 28 days or more. He was afforded the right to legal counsel for his defense, able to meet with his attorney for more than just a few minutes a week. He was not "interrogated" into signing a confession. And, perhaps most important, Peairs was not prejudged. The case was brought to trial in speedy fashion, the facts were presented by the prosecution and the defense, and Peairs was found "not guilty" by a jury of 12 of his peers. It was a case about a particular incident -- a tragic course of events -- which occurred last fall. And no matter how hard the media and anti-gun advocates try ... both in Japan and in the United States ... the case was not about gun laws. Those who have and will continue to exploit this sorrowful event to promote further restrictions on the Second Amendment, should sit back and ask themselves a simple question: Do you also propose that we follow Japan's example and restrict the rights of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed in the First, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments? That, too, would be tragic.