Foreign Gun Control: What Are They Doing Right?

By Molly Anderson
With a little over a year left in his final term, President Barack Obamas
got a few more things to take care of before he says goodbye to the Oval
Office. Gun control is near the top of his list. Just this month, Obama
developed a series of executive actions that are designed to reduce the
amount of gun-related violence. During his presidency, Obama has been
attempting to strengthen gun control laws and Congress has consistently
opposed him. Hes not the first president to try to tackle this issue; there
have been at least six occasions over the past 100 years where the president
and lawmakers have reevaluated federal gun laws. Despite all the measures
that have been taken, America still has more gun related deaths annually
than any other developed nation. Where did we go wrong, and more
importantly, what can we learn about gun rights from other countries?
To understand the gun control dilemma, we must understand what the
current firearm policies dictate. The Second Amendment states, a well
regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Though gun laws
have changed a lot since the Second Amendment was introduced, policy
makers have stayed true to the Bill of Rights. At one point, the law stated
that the federal government could not ban guns, but cities and states could.
In an effort to protect the Second Amendment, the supreme court ruled
banning guns unconstitutional. Federal laws now regulate things such as who

can buy guns and what guns can be sold. The rest is left to state laws. States
make their own policies when it comes to open carry, where guns can be
used, and so on. The variation in gun laws from state to state has led to a lot
of disagreement about gun control on a national level.
Today there are roughly 300 state and federal gun laws in the United
States. Determining which ones are effective has proven to be exceedingly
difficult. After evaluating a multitude of studies, Justice Stephen Breyer
wrote, The upshot is a set of studies and counterstudies that, at most, could
leave a judge uncertain about the proper policy conclusion. Washington D.C.
is a perfect example of this. In 1976, Washington D.C. enacted a near-total
ban on handguns. One study claims that since then, the level of violent crime
in the U.S. Capitol has increased. Another study found that the ban was
linked to a 25 percent drop in homicides involving firearms in Washington
D.C. and the surrounding areas. Contradicting statistics have made it hard to
determine which policies are helping the problem and which are contributing
to it.
Since it is so difficult to determine will work best for firearm regulation
in America, it may be beneficial to see whats worked for other countries. At
the beginning of his address earlier this month, Obama talked about how our
gun culture compares to other countries, saying, we are the only advanced
country on Earth that sees this kind of mass violence erupt with this kind of
frequency. It doesn't happen in other advanced countries. Its not even
close. The United States has not only the largest number of civilian-owned

guns out of all developed nations, with 88.8 guns per every 100 people, we
also have the highest number of gun related homicides with 3.21 per every
100,000 people. That might not sound like a lot until you look at the No. 2
spot. Canada has the second highest number of gun related deaths with only
0.51 firearm related homicides per every 100,000 people. In addition, the
United States also has the highest number of mass shootings. Americans
make up only 5 percent of the population but from the year 1966 to 2012, 31
percent of all public mass shootings took place in the United States.
America is not alone in their struggle to reduce the number of firearmrelated homicides. In April 1996, a young man named Martin Bryant opened
fire at Monash University in Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding
another 23 in the Port Arthur massacre. Two weeks later, the Australian
government passed the National Agreement on Firearms which prohibited
automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles, made ownership and licensing
laws stricter, and launched a mandatory firearm buyback program that
claimed roughly 650,000 assault weapons. Also, the NAF requires those who
are looking to buy a gun to demonstrate a genuine need for a gun and to
take a gun safety class. A study conducted by Andrew Leigh of Australian
National University found that in the decade after the NAF was introduced,
the number of gun-related homicides fell by 59 percent, and the number of
gun-related suicides fell by 65 percent. The Port Arthur massacre was the
last mass shooting in Australia. Obama has openly expressed his admiration
of Australian gun policies saying "when Australia had a mass killing it was

just so shocking the entire country said, 'Well, we're going to completely
change our gun laws,' and they did. And it hasn't happened since, Despite
the fact that, as explained by former Australian Prime Minister John Howard,
all the credible research both in Australia and elsewhere shows that gun
control laws have markedly reduced gun-related deaths, the NAF has
received a lot of criticism. After voicing his opinion on Australians gun laws,
Obama was condemned by the NRA in an article titled Australia: There Will
Be Blood, which stated that Obamas portrayal of the NFA was
disingenuous.
Another country that has been effective in creating firearm control laws
is Japan. In 2008, there were over 12 thousand firearm-related homicides in
the United States. In Japan, there were 11. Japan has the lowest rate of gun
homicides in the world and some of the strictest gun policies. The only guns
that are legally for sale are shotguns and air rifles, and even those are hard
to get. If you do want to purchase one of these firearms, you must first take
an all-day class and pass the written exam. You then must take a shooting
class and pass that as well. Once youve got those out of the way, you are
required to go to a hospital to take both a drug test and a mental health
exam which are then sent to the police. After finally passing a rigorous
background check, you can finally purchase yourself a gun. It doesnt end
there though. Once you get your new firearm, the law states that you must
register your gun, its location in your home and the location of the ammo,
both of which must be locked away in separate locations. The gun also has to

be inspected by the police once a year, and the class has to be retaken every
three years. While their gun control laws have certainly helped reduce the
number of firearm-related homicides, Japanese shooting range owner
Tsutomu Uchida believes its more than just Japan's laws that have kept the
homicide rate so low. We have a very different way of looking at guns in
Japan than people in the United States, says Uchida. In the U.S., people
believe they have a right to own a gun. In Japan, we dont have that right. So
our point of departure is completely different.
Norway may prove Uchidas point about gun violence being tied to
culture. In July 2011 on the small island of Utya, 68 people were shot and
killed by Anders Behring Breivikn at a summer camp. Norway has strict gun
policies much like Japans which make it hard for most people to get a gun.
An anonymous blogger was quoted saying "gun control is a failure. These dirt
bags do not obey laws and a person who wants to do a mass shooting will
put the time and money into getting the equipment necessary to do the job.
Many analysts have used this incident as proof that Norways strict gun
policieswhich include presenting a valid reason for needing a gun,
obtaining a license from the government, and being at least 18 years old
are ineffective. Others say that had more people been armed with guns
during this mass shooting and at other massacres, people would have been
able to fight back resulting in fewer fatalities.
So, what does all of this mean for the United States? Would policies
that have worked overseas to help reduce the number of firearm-related

deaths each year or would they be ineffective due to Americas extreme gun
culture? Its hard to say, and the answer usually changes depending on who
you ask. When asked whether or not he thought that the U.S. would benefit
from adopting another countrys gun policies, Elon University student Jake
Hackman had this to say: America could try to ban guns, but it would cause
so much controversy that it wouldnt even work. We cant just adapt to some
other countrys laws. Were our own country. Coleman Ban, another student
at Elon disagreed, saying, its not going to happen overnight; Americans are
super stubborn. I do think though that Norways doing something right We
could learn a lot from them. The data also changes depending on where you
look. Some people will say that the NAF reduced gun-related homicides in
Australia while other people will say that it had no effect on the homicide
rate or even increased it. The question that remains is what will work best for
the United States.

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