Man arrested after stabbing 4 officials at Kanazawa city hall

Imagine if the guy was able to purchase an AR-15 Rifle with extra magazines and ammo. Sure, Japan is no different than any other country, they have their fair share of unhappy people that want to go ballistic... but luckily in Japan they are not literally able to go "ballistic".

wow!

Imagine if the guy was able to purchase an AR-15 Rifle with extra magazines and ammo. Sure, Japan is no different than any other country, they have their fair share of unhappy people that want to go ballistic... but luckily in Japan they are not literally able to go "ballistic".

great point

tell that to the families of the Sagamihara nursing home attack (19 killed, 26 injured)

or the Akihabara attack 7 dead, 10 injured) in '08.

Telling that you come up with the two outstanding incidents of mass murder in Japan, and have to go back ten years to find anything bad enough to (you think) make your case. Incidents that are so few & far between, so newsworthy, that they stick in the memory.

The fact is that bad as they were, those incidents would have been much worse if the attackers had been spraying bullets instead of wielding knives (perhaps not the nursing home attack, where Uematsu crept through the establishment at dead of night, killing silently). There are many families still enjoying the company of loved ones who did not get blown away by Kato or Uematsu.

In those ten years, how many similar incidents occurred in the US, exacerbated by the use of firearms?

In 2008, some 12,000 Americans were killed with guns. That's not since 2008, but in 2008.

Imagine if the guy was able to purchase an AR-15 Rifle with extra magazines and ammo. Sure, Japan is no different than any other country, they have their fair share of unhappy people that want to go ballistic... but luckily in Japan they are not literally able to go "ballistic".

So well said!

four officials at the Kanazawa city hall in central Japan, police said.

Officials, direct translation I do believe, 職員, because in "English" it typically means a person in an elected or appointed position, and if these four were in fact elected to their positions or appointed, it becomes a political crime.

Junichi Takahata was apprehended on the seventh floor of the city office in Ishikawa Prefecture after stabbing male and female employees in their 50s and 60s on the third floor and fifth floor shortly after 3 p.m.

However, it's more likely that they were just upper level komuin, (based on their ages) or local government employees stabbed by some guy that evidently had a serious bone-to-pick with them!

The system done broke him.

Because they are 2 completely different countries with 2 completely different cultures and 2 completely different histories.

But everyone just loves to turn Japanese at times like this, obfuscate, compare, deflect. It can ALWAYS be worse, and Japan is never going to have "those” problems！

Gun deaths in overall deaths were only #12. (1.3%)

So, only 12,000 people... appalling that anybody would consider this inconsequential.

Don't we all.

Yeah, true, but unless I was given only a week to live I doubt I would go postal on them!

Kanazawa city hall in central Japan

Central Japan? I would have said, north-west.

Will be interesting to hear if this nut was on the police department's radar with previous incidents.

I would not be surprised

but luckily in Japan they are not literally able to go "ballistic".

tell that to the families of the Sagamihara nursing home attack (19 killed, 26 injured)

or the Akihabara attack 7 dead, 10 injured) in '08.

Because they are 2 completely different countries with 2 completely different cultures and 2 completely different histories.

The questions that need to be asked are those dealing with mental issues and identifying people that need help

Cleo - Ill bring to your attention a couple of your convenient omissions;

Your number of 12000 doesn't include suicide percentages.

Gun deaths in overall deaths were only #12. (1.3%)

You simply cannot continue to beat the dead horse of comparing US laws vs Japan. Its a non-starter.