| Why handguns should not be allowed By Naoki Ito These days I often see a TV commercial about handguns. According to the commercial, ordinary people own approximately 40 percent of guns that the police seize in Japan. The rate of ordinary people arrested for guns is gradually increasing. We should not ignore this problem. I�fm going to think about why handguns should not be allowed. The first point is needless violence. When people get angry, they often do something hasty. If guns are around, they might kill their family, friends or classmates. We can remember youngsters in the United States going on shooting sprees at school in 1998. If people didn�ft have guns, they probably would not kill their neighbors. The second point is policing problems. When everyone is carrying a gun, police officers can�ft distinguish normal people from criminals. Actually, some officers have mistakenly killed victims who looked like criminals because they were waving guns around. I guess this problem has not occurred in Japan so far. However, if guns spread more, it might occur. The third point is ineffectiveness. Guns are not effective protection against criminals because they are probably armed too, and always have the advantage of surprise. There is no guarantee of safety, even if they have a gun. These are the reason why handguns should not be allowed. We should remember guns would never bring peace in the world. |