Guns: Forbidden fruit is sweetest.

[trof]

OK, you can file this under "So What?", but I thought these two stories might be interesting in light of yesterday's tragedy.

It appears the shooter was Chinese. Been here about a year.
China has pretty tough gun laws. Was he attracted by ready access here to the "forbidden fruit" in his own country?

Japan has tough gun laws, too. In fact it's almost impossible for a private citizen to own one.

Story 1:
For a few years I knew a Japanese national who worked for a Japanese company in New York. When he learned he could legally own guns here he went absolutely nuts about them. Eventually he owned over a dozen. All types, from hand guns to assault rifles. He'd bring photographs of them to work and proudly show them off. Spent his days off at a shooting range on Long Island. Happily, he confined his shooting to paper targets.

Story 2:
Same company, Nippon Cargo Airlines, but in Japan. A Tokyo middle management type approached one of our American pilots who he had become friendly with. His son was a Tokyo policeman and was in deep, deep trouble. To cover huge gambling losses he had sold his police sidearm to a member of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. A big inspection was coming up where this was sure to be discovered. The son would lose his job and face years in prison. He had a wife and two kids.

The guy offered our pilot $10,000 to smuggle a replacement gun in. Back then security was pretty lax, especially for cargo flights. No magnetometers or anything like that for crews. Customs & immigration was pretty much a walkthrough. He could very probably have pulled it off.

Happily, he was a lot smarter than that. As soon as he returned to New York, he reported the incident to our chief pilot. The FBI and DEA were contacted and eventually the father and son were arrested in Japan.

It just seems that the ability to easily get a gun in this country makes possession even more tantalizing for citizens of countries with stricter laws.

Just got my flak jacket back from the cleaners, so have at it.

[Wickerman]

1. not that ethnicity makes a huge difference

but he was Korean, it now appears.
http://abcnews.go.com/

[trof]

5. No, that wasn't the point (see below).

I guess it's just the forbidden fruit thing, no matter where you're from.

[Wickerman]

16. understand, just wanted accuracy n/t

[Skinner]

2. The point about forbidden fruit is understandable.

I guess I can't help wondering if there is some deeper point you are trying to make. Usually when someone uses the forbiden fruit argument, they are suggesting that something would lose its appeal if it were made easily accessible, often in the context of arguing that restrictions should be removed. Is that your point, or am I reading too much into this?

[trof]

4. I'm not even sure I have a point.

Maybe that if there were world-wide gun laws...?
Naw, that's loonie toons.

I guess it's any time you get somewhere that you can do something you can't do at home. Although that doesn't even apply to my time in Amsterdam. I didn't seek out the nearest pot bar.

Like I said, this may just come under "interesting tales, but so what?".
:shrug:

[wtmusic]

3. At first glance

it seems that much pent-up hostility might have more to do with racial tension.

The hunter who shot 7 other hunters in Wisconsin in 2004 was from Laos, which has very lax gun laws.

[trof]

6. Hmmm. Wonder if his actions would have been

more-or-less acceptable...the 'norm'...back home.

[wtmusic]

7. Assassinations are, incredible as it may seem, "accepted" in Laos

Very few instances of retribution or punishmentment of "honor" murders. In some cases, the murderer actually assumes the position and status of the murdered.

[blogslut]

9. Back home?

First, you conflate Japan with China. Then you ignore that the kid is actually South Korean. Tell, me where do you think his home is?

[trof]

10. Take another look at the post I was replying to.

That guy was from Laos.
Context matters.

[blogslut]

11. And I was referring to what you said in your OP.

As for the Laotian reference above, well, I will just let all the conflation in this thread speak for itself.

[trof]

12. There was nothing about 'back home' in OP.

And no conflation, either.
The two stories I personally know about happen to have involved Japanese nationals because I worked with/for them for 10 years.
Do I need to put in the disclaimer that "they were all fine folks who I deeply respected and admired"?

They could just as easily have been Dutch or English.
The point, if there even was one, was about forbidden fruit, no matter where it's forbidden.
jeez

[blogslut]

13. The point being

It seems to me that you want to lump Japanese, Chinese and Koreans into a single culture.

[trof]

15. If that's how it seems to you, that's up to you.

That's not how it seems to me or anyone else here, apparently.

[renie408]

8. I think we need to get away from focusing on the guns

Focusing on the guns as the cause, as much as I believe in gun control, is avoiding the real problems of violence and lack of respect for each other that we have in this country.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

14. Two incidents with very different patterns does not a trend make.

Entirely different scenarios. One guy does have a gun fascination. The other guy was trying to get his kid out of a jam.

[petronius]

17. According to CNN, the murderer came to the US in 1992, and renewed his

Green Card in 2003. I read that to mean that he's been in residence for the past 15 years (since he was 8), which I thik lessens the likelihood of a 'forbidden fruit' process. However, I do think the behavior you describe affects a lot of people - I've had a lot of friends who went overboard with one behavior or another as soon as that behavior became open, legal, accepted, or whatever...