When gun control is being fiercely discussed after the massacre in Connecticut, US, it is always the statistics that is trotted out. According to Japantoday, there are more murder cases by scissors than that by guns in Japan. Unlike the US, where the purchase of firearms are easy, people have to undergo a complicated process to get an approval to possess a gun.
The main things to check is disease. A person who wants to own a gun have to go to a local police station to declare their intention. The police will investigate thoroughly the background of the applicant. They check if s/he has been institutionalised and is epileptic, schizophrenic (more than one personality), or capricious. They might even ask the neighbours about his daily behaviour. I'm not saying that the US should introduce this kind of stricter, more complicated system, but just that a difficult access to guns will lower the number of bullet-related cases. It's not a right to own a gun/firearm, it's a privilege in Japan, and so the owner must comply with the rules and be responsible for their act. Quite rudimentary, though.
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