Tag Archives: legislation

Let’s Take a Cue from Japan on Gun Violence

In the wake of the most recent mass shooting in the US, it’s past time for legislators to take a stand and find ways to drastically reduce gun violence in our country. I’m writing as a gun user. Target shooting is great fun! I’m very proud of a target I have with just two beautiful bullseyes in it. I only had two bullets in the revolver. 😀 But that doesn’t mean we should continue to turn a blind eye to the proliferation of gun violence.

I suggest looking to Japan for model legislation. Japan is probably more restrictive than most Americans would like, but their policies have been extremely effective. In 2014 only six people died from gunshots in Japan. Compare that to 33,599 in the same year in the US. The BBC has done an excellent job writing about Japanese gun laws. In essence:

  • The police are not militarized. They are conditioned to de-escalate instead of draw their gun.
  • Obtaining a firearm in Japan is a lengthy process involving intense scrutinization of the applicant, their family, and their associates. You must get at least 95% on the marksmanship test in order to pass.
  • Several laws ensure the Japanese government knows where all the guns and ammunition are. You must have a safe in which guns and ammo are stored separately and the police must know its location. You must return your spent cartridges to the store to obtain new ones (this law also helps ensure that guns are being used for lawful purposes such as target shooting).
  • The Japanese began one of the world’s first buyback programs back in 1685 and it’s still going strong. When a gun owner dies, their heirs must turn the gun and ammunition in to the police.
  • Gun shops are strictly monitored and kept to a small number. These are the only places Japanese can legally buy guns and ammo.
  • Shotguns and air rifles are the only firearms civilians are allowed to purchase. Japanese police leave their firearms at the station when they leave work.

While not all of these policies would work for the United States (for example, Americans would probably demand to continue to have access to pistols and revolvers, and historical collectors would want to be able to pass down their collection), I think versions of them would. I would feel a lot safer knowing that anyone buying a firearm had to go through such a lengthy and rigorous process. Retraining our police to use the most peaceful means possible to de-escalate situations first would go far toward addressing the epidemic of police shootings in America.

Addressing Hazing

About a week ago I stumbled across NBC News’ “Hazing in America”. I’ve been trying to decide what I could add to the subject and made a stab at it earlier tonight, which I deleted. It’s difficult to talk about in any substantial way without exposing others to scrutiny.

And now I have my first point; hazing is surrounded by a culture of silence. Typically, no one in a given organization (and I include sports teams in “organization”) is innocent, with the exception of the haze-ees. All group members participate in hazing so the guilt is shared. If a student reports that a rival group hazes new members, he or she risks exposing their own group. Administrations that turn a blind eye don’t want their university’s reputation besmirched.

Hazees, of course, are incentivized to not report because they want to be a group member. Women pledging my local sorority were told they could opt-out of any activity and we’d come up with an alternative they were comfortable with. In reality, pledges were cajoled into going along with the program. Substitutions were never made. Not maliciously, mind you. There was a genuine desire to use such moments to help the pledge grow or get over a fear while pushing group unity. But in effect, speaking up was almost useless. This happened across the board.

Even when a new member got the courage to go to the administration about hazing, the ultimate effect was to destroy the pledge. Hazing continued in the reported organization as usual. This became a powerful object lesson for others about the futility and consequences of reporting hazing.

Even if campuses properly incentivized student organizations to report hazing, many have a confused understanding of what hazing is. For the most part the state laws that address hazing only take into account actions that cause, or could reasonably cause, physical injury. When I got to know members of national Greek organizations (think Pi Beta Phi, with chapters at multiple schools, as opposed to a local, which only exists at one school), I learned that hazing includes anything that demeans, degrades, or harasses new members. Under this definition calling new members “babies” or requiring them to dress up in diapers are both hazing. Because the local Greek organizations at my alma mater think hazing is only stuff like making pledges drink until they puke, they truly believe that they don’t haze and aren’t legally liable. Except they do and they should be.

So reform starts with aligning all players’ definitions of hazing with the definition above. Next, organizations should be required to treat new members as full members as soon as a bid to pledge or join the team is accepted. Students must be educated about what hazing is and alternate means of bonding and ensuring group unity. Schools must figure out how to incentivize students to report hazing and appropriately punish complicity, including complicity by staff. And schools and organizations must work together to create alternate, healthy traditions and rites of passage for their students.