There does not currently exist one reliable method of verification to ensure a person is mentally and physically able to own a gun. Even though both Japan and the United States both require background checks, the end results and the depths to which each country adjudicates the checks are vastly different. In this essay I will attempt to highlight the major differences between the two countries in reference to the success and failure of each countries current background check systems. Likewise, I will discuss how the cultural differences between United States and Japan are responsible, in large part, for the overall gun policy in both countries. I will also point out some recent trends in United States society as it relates to gun ownership.
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To own a gun, better yet a shotgun or air soft gun because owning a hand gun is explicitly forbidden, the process begins with a class and written test. Although the requirement isn’t exactly the same, in the United States a citizen must take a Concealed Course Weapon (CCW) in order to carry a concealed handgun. Once the course is complete, the student must also take and pass a written test. This is only possible in the United States as there isn’t a strong belief citizens are in danger of losing individual rights as a result of the CCW …show more content…
This mental health screening information is not considered privileged and is stored in the police department once the process is finished. It is in the mental health check I feel we can really point out the sharp contrast in the culture and policies between the United States and Japan. Thomas Hobbes vision of the “social contract” implies the transference of individual rights to the state in order to ensure a peaceful and safe community. (Thomas Hobbes: social contract, 2002) One of those rights transferred is the right to privacy as citizens who complete and are approved for gun ownership must surrender their mental evaluation to the local police department. In order to own a gun, Japanese citizens are willing to offer up their most private medical information to citizens who haven’t taken an oath of secrecy. This is the essence of what Hobbes envisioned with the “social contract” When our fore fathers envisioned the master plan for government and citizens’ rights, they envisioned a country that modeled John Locks theory of natural rights. The architects of the U.S. Constitution sought to protect individual citizen’s rights and limit the ability of the U.S Government to infringe on individual citizen’s rights. Passing a law that requires individual citizens to submit too and surrender the result of a mental health evaluation would be looked at
To own a gun, better yet a shotgun or air soft gun because owning a hand gun is explicitly forbidden, the process begins with a class and written test. Although the requirement isn’t exactly the same, in the United States a citizen must take a Concealed Course Weapon (CCW) in order to carry a concealed handgun. Once the course is complete, the student must also take and pass a written test. This is only possible in the United States as there isn’t a strong belief citizens are in danger of losing individual rights as a result of the CCW …show more content…
This mental health screening information is not considered privileged and is stored in the police department once the process is finished. It is in the mental health check I feel we can really point out the sharp contrast in the culture and policies between the United States and Japan. Thomas Hobbes vision of the “social contract” implies the transference of individual rights to the state in order to ensure a peaceful and safe community. (Thomas Hobbes: social contract, 2002) One of those rights transferred is the right to privacy as citizens who complete and are approved for gun ownership must surrender their mental evaluation to the local police department. In order to own a gun, Japanese citizens are willing to offer up their most private medical information to citizens who haven’t taken an oath of secrecy. This is the essence of what Hobbes envisioned with the “social contract” When our fore fathers envisioned the master plan for government and citizens’ rights, they envisioned a country that modeled John Locks theory of natural rights. The architects of the U.S. Constitution sought to protect individual citizen’s rights and limit the ability of the U.S Government to infringe on individual citizen’s rights. Passing a law that requires individual citizens to submit too and surrender the result of a mental health evaluation would be looked at