Japan has been heralded for some time by gun-ban extremists as a utopia of gun restrictions. However, Japanese criminals are undeterred by the regulations. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, Japan’s violent crime rate is rising, and the number of serious crimes committed by criminals with handguns this year is expected to exceed last year’s record number. Japan’s murder rate has even surpassed the murder rate in England and Australia, two countries that are also experiencing dramatic increases in violent crime and also have strict gun laws. While Japan has had stringent controls on firearms for centuries -- only the police and military are permitted to possess handguns -- England and Australia have only recently passed draconian restrictions on gun owners, including bans on several classes of firearms.
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