Regarding Hiroaki Sato's Aug. 20 article, "Why can't Americans give up their guns?": I submit that it may be impossible for Sato to understand the cultural differences between the United States and Japan on the subject of personal liberty and a free citizen's possession of the means to defend it.
The history of the founding of the United States and its people involves a successful revolution by the people against tyrannical government. This is not a Japanese concept at all.
With regard to the statistics quoted pertaining to the number of firearms-involved homicides in the U.S., a closer look at the demographics will reveal that these homicides occur primarily among criminal elements in large urban areas -- where the participants are already prohibited from owning firearms by reason of age, jurisdiction and prior criminal conviction. Criminal behavior is the cause of these homicides -- not the possession of firearms by law-abiding free citizens.
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