Just in case you missed it, on Sunday, a knife-wielding man apparently inspired by some sort of pseudo-Darwinian philosophy of eliminating the weak, killed 19 people and injured another 45 at a facility that provides treatment for the mentally disabled in Sagamihara, Japan. The individual responsible apparently turned himself in to police after the murders.

Yesterday, two men armed with knives who were followers of the Islamic State, attacked a Catholic Church in the French province of Normandy during morning prayers. They took several hostages. One of them, 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel, had his throat slit. Another victim was described as “being seriously injured and between “life and death.” French security services shot and killed both attackers, and another individual has been ‘detained’.

Finally, a patient at a university clinic in Berlin, Germany, pulled a gun and shot a doctor Sunday, then turned the gun on himself. German officials have indicated that there was no indication that the attacker had a “terrorist background” — whatever that means.

These three countries are often held up as prime examples of how well gun control works in “industrialized,” “wealthy,” “advanced” or “first-world” nations.

[Terms such as “industrialized,” “wealthy,” “advanced” or “first-world” used in the context of arguments about the right to keep and bear arms are simply code words for “rich, predominantly white European” nations, primarily intended to deter people from getting any ideas about comparing the rate of violence in the USA to places like Mexico, South Africa or Brazil.]

Japan’s gun control has its origins in its feudal past (no lord worth his salt wants a bunch a peasants to be armed) and the tradition is still enshrined in Japanese law today.

Germany, while nowhere near as restrictive on firearms ownership as its former wartime ally, still requires ordinary citizens to jump through a labyrinth of hoops before purchasing a firearm, including a burdensome licensing scheme before purchasing a .22LR-caliber rifle.

French firearms laws are along the same lines as Germany’s and are certainly less-restrictive than Japan’s or its neighbor across the Channel (although we’re grading on a curve here, so it’s a low bar.)

Naturally, nothing above is intended to imply that possession of firearms would be a panacea for people who find themselves under attack. Mistakes happen. Murphy’s Law remains in full effect. Stuff – as they say – happens. But what honest person would volunteer to be present at any one of the above three events without packing some iron?

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64 COMMENTS

  1. This can only help the Donald. It’s getting close to daily with attacks of varyingly stripes-“it doesn’t happen outside of the US!”

    • Great. King Donald will be praying for more mass killings to help his ego take over the world.

      • Don’t think he’ll pray or wish for additional attacks. The religion of murder feeds itself.

      • I am not a fan of Trump, or Obama, or the Clintons or Bushes, or really any of the presidents since Teddy. One thing they all have in common though, is that they all left. No matter how bad either of the two options this year are, I fully expect them to leave in 2020. They may accrue power to the office, but they aren’t going to stay past their term. If they do then the S will have really HTF and I will be wishing I had done more cardio.

    • Which could be troubling if one follows the logic along and makes a few guesses.

      ISIS leadership is not stupid (meaning that they have the ability to reason, not that they aren’t a bunch of stupid wankers, which they are…).

      ISIS would prefer that the US was disarmed. This should be self-evident.

      ISIS knows that HRC is far more likely to disarm us than Trump and thus would prefer she is elected.

      ISIS knows that terror attacks in the US specifically, and anywhere generally will to some degree help Trump / hurt HRC due to perception of the Democrats wanting more gun control and being soft of terrorists.

      If all this is correct, they would be holding back whatever resources they have here in the states – and attacks could increase after the election.

      Is true? I have no idea, but I don’t believe for a second those in positions of leadership within ISIS haven’t thought of this on their own already.

        • Really Ralph? These guys are committing mass murder, terror, torture and death for the purpose
          of imposing Islam and Sharia law upon the world. That is a very political purpose.

          The appeal of Islam, of course, is that in becoming a fundumentalist muslim, they are given permission to unleash the worst aspects of human nature, giving not just permission, but Islam demands that darkest and most savage aspects of the human spirit is unleashed upon the infidel.

          And if anyone has read up on what happens to many people, especially those that are already a sociopath/psychopath; that have released the chains upon the Dogs of War, the thrill and sense of power that comes from violating all aspects of civilized behavior can be very addicting.

      • “ISIS leadership is not stupid meaning that they have the ability to reason”

        WRONG. Your thinking like a westerner bathe in the culture of democracy. The leadership of ISIS are barbaric animals. You don’t talk or make nice….you hunt, gut, then pike them in town squares. Or as I’ve seen dead Iraqis piled as wide and tall as a D7 for 100 yards.

      • Whatever reasoning members of ISIS may or may not have, there is no doubt that our politicians are flooding the United States with these people so I would expect barring some radical policy change, attacks would continue to increase in the United States for some time regardless of who is elected.

        But, would they prefer a Clinton presidency? I would assume so since she is a woman they would likely see her as the weaker candidate and attempt to take whatever advantage they believe she would afford them.

        • “there is no doubt that our politicians are flooding the United States with these people”.

          The better question is why bring them in. I cannot think of one reason why third world Syrians, Saudi, Iranians need to be in this country.

        • “I cannot think of one reason why third world Syrians, Saudi, Iranians need to be in this country.”

          A very good question indeed.

        • Mk 101 and .308,

          Syrian refugees? They can vote pro-Sharia. No ID needed. Their mass shootings, like Nidal Hassan’s in Fort Hood, can be declared “workplace violence.” As we’ve seen from Obama / Billary / Feinstein et all, any shooting is useful for pushing gun control. When you see that Obama and Hillary hate America so much they barely have American flags at the DNC, the logic becomes much more clear.

      • I’m sure they have thought of it on their own already. But, I’m willing to bet their ultimate goal is very much the same as Bin Laden’s: to lure us into a never-ending war into which the world dumps trillions. We invade, they scatter like roaches, and we roll around in HMMWV’s for ten years, wondering if our truck will be the next one hit.

        That said, while Trump is a bit of a wild card, I certainly wouldn’t past him to plunge America into another war in the Middle East (or should I say ‘continuing the current war, but in a more overt manner?’). Hillary has a proven record of interventionism and stupidity, so I’m willing to bet they’ll be happy with either.

        • Of course, but my point is that having us disarmed works to their advantage and they know it.

          And to those who say these people aren’t smart, I think it would be wise not to underestimate them. 9/11 was a very smart plan – attacking the financial, transport, political and military segments of our society all in one operation that cost them like 1.5mln. I’d say that was some real stratergizing at the very least.

      • Even the seconds hand on a radical Muslim’s watch measures time in terms of decades. These people play the ultimate long game. These people don’t care who’ll be elected in a few months.

        • Are you kidding? What does that even mean? So they don’t take any actions that use any scale greater than what? A decade?

          That’s absurd. Yes, they play the long game.

          But they are still people who will take any advantage given to them. And they know our society, they study it and often live in it.

          Look, maybe I am wrong about this, I will be happy if so.

      • They want a showdown with the west, and they think they can win it. They may think Trump would be more likely to confront them, however I think the Clintons would have no compunction about sending other people’s children to die, so ISIS is in a win-win situation this year.

  3. According to the daily mail

    ‘The 19-year-old ‘ISIS soldier’ was being monitored with an electronic tag after he was arrested for twice attempting to flee France to join the terror group in Syria. Despite having been released early from prison, Keriche’s bail conditions allowed him to roam freely between between 8.30am and 12.30pm. The attack happened between 9am and 11am. He and his accomplice – also known to French police – forced 84-year-old Jacques Hamel to kneel before filming themselves butchering him and performing a ‘sermon in Arabic’ at the altar of the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, according to witnesses. Both were shot dead by police marksmen as they emerged from the building shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ following the attack that also left a nun critically injured.”

    Anyone shocked that just like US immigration policy, “catch and release” DOES NOT WORK?

    ” French President Francois Hollande, who visited the scene today, said the country is now ‘at war’ with ISIS after the terror group claimed responsibility for the attack”

    President Obama……crickets.

  4. It’s going to be a long, deadly summer — and I’m not talking about the heat.

    Meanwhile, at the DNC yesterday, there wasn’t a single word said about ISIS or terrorism.

    • Yes, Ralph, but wouldn’t mention of ISIS kind of point out the failures of the Obama administration and the fact that Hillary was part of that administration, and also risk reminding folks of her terrible failure in Benghazi, and also of how she plans to bring in loads of ISIS terrorists embedded with Syrian refugees? Nope, she is only interested in enriching herself and destroying America and in that order.

    • Just like someone pointed out no Stars and Stripes and they quickly moved some in for today, Deranged democrat will mention a vague reference and claiming love will cure the barbarity.

  5. Any bets on when/if our resident troll will comment with his full retard version of “the truth”?

      • I second the motion. He’s just seeking the attention that he doesn’t get from his mommy.

    • I’m actually getting a bit “concerned” about him. I hope the real world hasn’t make his head implode or something.

  6. It’s my understanding that the US after WWII greatly restricted Japanese gun ownership both for civilians and military and a lot of the civilian-related laws in place now were created by us. May or may not still be accurate. However, this isn’t to imply a disagreement with Johannes’ assertion that it dates back to feudal times. In fact:

    “The people of the various provinces are strictly forbidden to have in their possession any swords, bows, spears, firearms, or other types of arms. The possession of these elements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues, and tends to permit uprising. Therefore, the heads of provinces, official agents, and deputies are ordered to collect all the weapons mentioned above and turn them over to the government.”
    — Toyotomi Hideyoshi
    (1536-1598) Japanese Chancellor of the Realm

    • The US probably did have a large hand in writing current Japanese gun laws, but the fact is that even without our help, they would have written pretty much identical laws for themselves anyway. And even without any gun laws, the fact is that VERY few Japanese would opt to own firearms. Given their history, I’m sure there would be a sizable cultural bias against such a thing, and they’re so collectivist that the disapproval of others would be a sufficient deterrent for those few who might even be curious about such things.

  7. Those first world industrialized rich countries are beginning to look like Chiraq.

  8. The Donald isn’t passionate enough about our self-defense civil rights to bother trying to make political hay out of this. Such things are on our radar, not his. Not to say he won’t have our backs, its just not a priority for him.

  9. One line in that article stuck out to me,

    “Mass killings are extremely rare in Japan, in part because strict gun control laws means almost no-one has access to a firearm. ”

    To me this says these people, these media shills, really do believe that no guns means no violence or acts of evil can occur. The naivete is stunning.

      • Do you suppose the families of the victims care whether they were stabbed or shot to death?

      • Why do nations that puts strict gun control laws, like the U.K. And Australia experience a jump in homicides and violent crime immediately after, and proportional to the strictness of enforcement?

        How do you account for a country’s lower homicide rate compared to the U.S.not starting with their gun control laws, but continuing back well into the time they had lots of firearms ownership?

        How do you account for the crime and violence in countries like Mexico or Brazil, who have strict gun laws but massive rates of violence? Or the overall lack of correlation to low crime and gun laws?

        Why do you believe that Japan’s low crime rate is due to gun laws and not cultural homogeneity with a culture centered around honour and hard work?

        Honest question.

      • Since you want to include suicides. What’s Japan’s suicide rate compared to the US?

        Japan has nearly as many suicides as the US while having a little over 1/3 of the population.

        Thought so.

      • Why are you engaging with this lunatic. At least 2Asux can put a rational argument together. Anybody who thinks Vermont is the most dangerous state is on some sort of antipsychotic.

  10. The total population of those three nations combined is about 274 million. And all that, plus the Nice truck massacre, happened over the course of a few days.

    Those who think the U.S. is an especially violent place have a genuinely warped vision of the world.

  11. Mass killing that happen in these countries….One incident and everyone on here goes into a complete hailstorm about how gun control “doesn’t” work.

    It works…It stopped madmen from obtaining more dangerous weapons.

    Suggesting these foreign citizens arm up will blow up in your face as they laugh at your idiot logic. Self defense is a MYTH!

    No one in the civilized world wants a gun nor do they need it.

    Most Americans haven’t fallen for the nihilistic “pro-gun” bullshit.

    It’s easier to run or fight back against a nutbar with a knife or a wooden bat.

    Attack’s like this which again are RARE doesn’t account for the numerous mass shootings that happen everyday in the US.

    I like how again for the third time a news link to a mass shooting was ignored and “deconstructed” despite the fact that it LEGALLY had been confirmed to been a mass shooting.

    Pro-gun states have higher incidents of murders, crime and suicide while anti-gun states do not.

    Pro-gun states are prone to fudging their crime stats to make it seem like they’re safe when they’re not.

    Texas, Wyoming, New Vermont, Alaska and other pro-gun states are considered the most unsafe states in the US.

  12. SEE! GUN CONTROL WORKS!! Not a SINGLE GUN DEATH here. Not one. Rest assured, families of the deceased, that they died for the furtherance of the cause of gun control. Now about those large carving knives..

  14. Mom’s Demand Action claim it’s the NRA’s fault and Bloomberg dedicates $20 million to create an organization to stop gun violence around the world and that background checks should be universal for the entire world and that will stop the violence…Oh forgot about the knives because he does not have a Mom’s Against Knives organization.

  15. To get back to Isis planning rational strategy.. They are psychopathic killers and are not able to hold back.
    Just look at the Jordanian pilot they captured.
    The entire nation of Jordan sympathized with Isis beliefs and there were petitions to the King of Jordan to ally with them.
    Isis burned the pilot alive and posted the video.
    Turned an entire nation that was leaning towards them into an implacable enemy.
    Jordan now allows US air strikes and has built a giant double berm
    No more Syrians in, they can starve in the desert.
    Jordan may not even allow the giant cranes to drop bottled water on the other side any more.

  16. get rid of the Muslim problem, nuke them! American rich wont because of all the war profits

  17. I half expect the Democrats to take France, Germany, and Japan off the list of “advanced countries.” The can join the list of losers like the United States, Mexico, and Russia, which fail to control their serfs adequately and haven’t managed to eradicate gun violence yet.

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