Japan has become another of the few countries to suffer from so-called “school violence.”

On Friday, a man by the name of Mamoru Takuma entered the doors of Ikeda Elementary School in Osaka, Japan. According to the Associated Press, he walked into four different rooms injuring dozens of children. Eight children died and 21 people were injured.

All this, in what is thought to be a very safe society, happened with no gun. The man responsible for the killing was armed with a six-inch kitchen knife.

He stabbed them. He did not shoot them. Guns aren’t readily available like they are here in the United States, yet eight children are still dead.

Had this happened here, the country would have been in awe. We are so used to being told guns are the problem. Obviously, they are not.

Gun owner’s rights advocates have been saying it for years – if you take away the guns, criminals will just find something else.

Japan has some of the strictest gun control laws in the democratic world.

There, a person may only possess a shotgun if they are a sportsman. They must apply to own a gun, take several tests and provide police with a map of their house indicating where the gun will be stored.

Citizens are required to apply for a permit to possess a CO2 gun. It is even difficult to own a sword in Japan. Granted, this is what most Japanese want. I am not trying to say their laws are too strict. They live in a completely separate culture.

It just goes to show you that with or with out guns, people are going to be murdered. There is no law that could have prevented the incident.

Still, people will continue to ignore this incident and keep preaching “less guns, less guns.”

Those who are on the side of increased control will often compare the crime rates of Japan to the crime rates of the United States. The argument says since Japan has few guns, Japan has low crimes rates, therefore the United States needs to adopt similar laws.

What people using this argument don’t understand (aside from the fact a man just killed eight people with a knife) is the culture and values are very different there.

In the United States, citizens are protected from illegal searches and seizures by the fourth Amendment to the Constitution. It ensures the right to be free from government intrusion into the home or other property.

That right does not exist in Japan. Police are looked at differently there and possess a lot more power. One duty assigned to police is a home visit where they go into the homes of civilians to collect personal information.

They can even stop and search one’s belongings if they have suspicion. And if evidence is found during a random search and found to be illegally obtained (which happens rarely) it can still be used in court.

Privacy hardly exists when it comes to Japanese police.

Also the Japanese citizens tend to be much more law abiding than do Americans. In fact, most Japanese criminals obey gun laws.

That is far from true in the United States.

Criminals break gun laws every time they break a law with a gun. How could we make sure these criminals stop breaking gun laws after guns are taken away?

There is no way, as long as the fourth Amendment exists, the government could come remotely close to taking all guns away from criminals.

Japan does not have the right in their constitution to bear arms either. Here in the United States, we are guaranteed that right by the second Amendment.

So in order to get rid of guns in the United States, we must first throw out the second and fourth Amendments, change our attitude towards police and give all power to the government, not to mention the cost of actually getting rid of the guns.

After all that, we just have to hope some crazy guy doesn’t try to stab someone. Any one want to place any bets?

Zach Calef is a sophomore in journalism and mass communications from Cedar Rapids. He is news editor for the Daily. The only way you’ll get his kitchen knife is if you pry it from his cold, dead hands.