A 1980s study on juvenile crime in Japan sheds light on American gun culture

Post by matt_wulfeck » Mon, Mar 12, 2018, 4:02 AM UTC

epx wrote: post #49

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #8

The retired cop then noted that even the yakuza don’t like to use guns these days — because the penalties are too high...One mid-level yakuza boss told me, “Having a gun now is like having a time bomb. Do you think any sane person wants to keep one around the house?” https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/01/06/national/media-...

One friend got beaten up by Yakuza because he banged up a Russian prostitute that 'belonged' to them. No guns, just golf club beatings, and of course they didn't get carried away (no broken bones, just bruises).

Post by StudentStuff » Mon, Mar 12, 2018, 4:15 AM UTC

sametmax wrote: post #54

jschwartzi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful when you react this way. This kind of thinking leads to mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenses, shoplifting, and all kinds of petty crimes that aren't typically perpetrated by hardened criminals with violent tendencies. It's the kind of thinking that fills our prisons with people who really belong in therapy or a psych ward. Killing someone is bad, very bad. But murder charges should be reserved f…

Let's say it this way: imagine it was not prison, but a full therapy treatment and rehabilitation. Do you think that 3 years is enough to rehabilitate an adult that all the events in life lead him or her to kill somebody ? Some people take 10 years to quit smoking. Also, while I agree with your point on abusing the justice system and not using it for revenge, you must not forget that: - currently we also use it as a…

Post by tempestn » Mon, Mar 12, 2018, 4:30 AM UTC

epx wrote: post #49

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #8

The retired cop then noted that even the yakuza don’t like to use guns these days — because the penalties are too high...One mid-level yakuza boss told me, “Having a gun now is like having a time bomb. Do you think any sane person wants to keep one around the house?” https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/01/06/national/media-...

One friend got beaten up by Yakuza because he banged up a Russian prostitute that 'belonged' to them. No guns, just golf club beatings, and of course they didn't get carried away (no broken bones, just bruises).

Post by Larrikin » Mon, Mar 12, 2018, 4:42 AM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #64

Larrikin wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe the Japan Times is a propaganda arm of the Japanese government in the same way as RT. They aren't as old an organization as Mainichi Shimbun for example, but I wouldn't group them with RT or Sputnik. Television news organizations in the country have to tread lightly, since they have to come hat in hand to the government when they need to renew their broadcasting licenses, but I don't believe other new…

You meant ' wouldn't group them with RT or Sputnik', right?

Post by Lazare » Mon, Mar 12, 2018, 4:54 AM UTC

rangibaby wrote: post #48

Lazare wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a plausible argument I suppose. And Europe never went through a comparable period of peace and unification (at any rate prior to the present day), so it sort of makes sense that Europe stuck with its guns and Japan did not. And yet it still raises questions. It happened very suddenly as these things go (over a few years or decades, rather than centuries), and seems to have been accompanied by a deep, long-lastin…

Japan didn't embrace gun culture but certainly built up its military after being forced to abandon isolationism by (literal) threats of destruction from western powers.