Can laws eradicate gun violence?

[SecularMotion]

Thousands of people fall victim to gun violence every year. From the mass killing in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, to the countless school shootings in America, guns in the wrong hands have had devastating consequences for communities worldwide.

So is there anything that we, our politicians and our police can do?

Jake Adelstein, the first guest on this episode of South2North, is an American investigative crime reporter and author based in Japan. His book Tokyo Vice details his time investigating the Japanese mafia and will be turned into a movie next year. He still lives under police protection in Japan.

Adelstein explains how, after World War II, the US disarmed Japan and made gun legislation incredibly strict in order to stabilise the new democracy: “Gun laws in Japan are incredibly strict. It is a crime to fire a gun. It is a crime to own a bullet. It is a crime to own a bullet and a gun that match, that’s an aggravated felony that will get you life in prison. Every aspect of owning and using a gun, other than hunters who have gone through rigorous inspections, who are professional shooters ... You just can’t have a gun in Japan.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/south2north/2013/06/201366122635588649.html