Hello everyone, tonight I have two articles to talk about. Reuters’ article is over police wanting to be able to dictate over open carry laws. Washington Post’s article is over U.S.A. citizens living in Japan, which feels allegedly “like a haven” in comparison over gun crime.
Reuters’ reporter remained neutral and reported over how some police want to have the ability to regulate open carry of firearms, such as the desire of some to restrict it for Cleveland during the Republican National Convention right now. Open-carry advocates were included throughout and how being able to open carry is a right. (I do have things to say about this article, but it wouldn’t be anything all that impressive.)
The Washington Post article is comparing apples and oranges by comparing Japan’s gun homicide number to the United States of America’s number. According to them, the numbers were 1 to 13,000. “Japan has the lowest rate of gun deaths in the developed world, while the United States has the highest.” Now this is gold. Compare a country were owning a gun is a crime with apparently harsh penalties to a country were owning a gun is a right. Of course the U.S.A. has a higher rate, we simply have more guns in the population. The article continues on to use emotions of past events and false impressions.
The reporter decided to relay some people’s personal stories. Now, I do believe personal stories are good to know. It gives the vibe of how some people feel about an event. It does not always consider the whole picture of something. The article is solely focused on American citizens who are not sure about moving back to their home country after fear of mass shootings. The first story is over Sibyl Kane, who was about to fly to Newark. She allegedly has to drive past Sandy Hook Elementary, which is “a reminder that “no place is immune.” She also said, “If Americans are okay with that, that says something about us as a society that is so profoundly disturbing, it’s hard for me to parse out where I fit into it.”
From this logic, I suppose that if something happens, then people are okay with it? Who has ever said that a mass shooting was okay? There is no “If Americans are okay with that”- we aren’t. We can’t all agree on how to deter these acts in the future, but none of us are okay with it.
Emotional one-liners follow. Things like, “I’d rather explain a natural disaster than a shooter lockdown” and “I know shootings are rare, but why play Russian roulette?”
Apparently the Japanese government released a travel warning after the Orlando shooting and shootings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights, and Dallas.
One man was covered who said he wanted to return home because he felt helpless by being so far away.
So, Abigail Leonard, the Washington Post reporter, went all out on making Japan sound so much better than the U.S.A. based off of gun crime- which is extremely hard to compare when talking about culture, population size, geographic, history, and gun ownership differences. I didn’t see a comparison over suicide rates? Or mention of ethnic or other diversity, poverty, or any other factors of violence.
My final thoughts are: try to see a bigger picture of what you are looking at, and don’t give false impressions about other perspectives.
On that note, I leave you tonight and will be back tomorrow to pick up on it. It is late, and I need some sleep.
Update: I originally forgot sources!
Reuters Article
Washington Post Article
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