Guns in Japan

In response to the video on youtube about guns in Japan — 

That may be good policy for the Japanese. I hope it works for them. But we have a different culture, happily, and those rules for gun ownership will not work in the US. That would be a violation of everything American. 

The video says that the Japanese believe “that guns should not have a role in civilian society”. This is not an ideal that we hold to be true. Beyond just a difference in a variety of different cultures, I believe our system to be superior. 

Americans are independent and enjoy a lot more freedom than the Japanese. With that freedom comes responsibility to govern ourselves. Everything in our founding was designed to limit government powers. We divided government powers into three branches, then divided Congress again. Our written Constitution grants the government specific powers and withholds all others. The Bill of Rights was added to be clear that these rights cannot be violated. All 10 amendments are limitations on government to make sure rights are not violated. 

We are to govern ourselves. Part of that self-government means we are responsible for our own safety and security. Gun use for self defense is obvious. However, there are more reasons than that. The armed populace stands as a check against invasion and, perhaps more importantly, as a check against tyrannical government. The people must be armed to be free. There are plenty of quotes from people smarter than I to prove this idea. Example:

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed."

-- Alexander Hamilton

One specific way that we differ from the Japanese as shown in the video is that we do not ask for permission to own or bear weapons. The police do not grant us this right. The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed. We do not beg for permission to buy a gun if they deem us fit. We are not limited to air rifles (because that isn’t even a real firearm) or shotguns. We recognize that we have that right to own weapons. We do not allow that right to be excluded to all those that cannot conform to their tedious process. We don’t rely on the police to protect us. Japans rules won't work in the US.