What if America had Stricter Gun Laws?: A Case study on the Consequences of Strict Gun Laws in Korea

There are no guns in Korea. Well at least compared to the United States, it seems like there are no guns in Korea. Gun laws here are very strict. You are not allowed to keep a gun at your house. You are only allowed to own a gun for hunting purposes, and the few who do, have to keep these guns at the local police station. When you want to hunt, you go to the police station, check your gun out, hunt, and return it to the station when you're finished. This is vastly different from America, where it is considered an undeniable right that every citizen over the age of "able-to-hold-a-gun" is allowed and in fact encouraged to wield a lethal weapon. I must say that this difference in gun culture is intriguing.

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm no hippie-liberal pansy implying that guns should be outlawed and peace should be spread with bubbles and rainbows. I enjoy the power surge one feels when holding a gun just as much as the next killer. As Homer Simpson famously quipped "I'm sorry I lied to you Marge, but this gun had a hold on me. I felt this incredible surge of power... like God must feel... when he's holding a gun."

I would like to enlighten you as to some of the subtle differences between Korea and America in relationship to this difference of "gun prevalence."

First of all, cops are chill in Korea. The strict gun laws prevent the use of excessive force leading to deaths, and increase the public respect of police officers.

Half of my neighbors back in the States are police officers. Actually one is the Police Chief, one is the guy right under the Chief, whose son just became a cop, and my sister is a Crime Scene Investigator for the City (cop). I, personally, have nothing against police officers. However, American police have the reputation of being a bit forceful, sometimes unpleasant, and in a few cases "quick to the trigger." The instances of police officers being "quick to the trigger" have led to many news reports of police altercations resulting in deaths.

In Korea, the opposite is true. I tried to find articles of Korean police officers being trigger happy and came up with nothing. Then I realized that police officers in Korea couldn't be "quick to the trigger" if they tried. Why? Because they don't carry guns. It's difficult to accidentally shoot someone if you don't have a gun with which to accidentally shoot him. Most of the police officers simply carry around sticks (which may actually be flashlights) and cell phones. I imagine a rare few carry stun guns or tasers, but I have yet to actually witness this. Imagine cops not having guns in America. This might cause a small problem due to the prevalence of private gun ownership. In Korea, however, this is no problem at all. Not only is there a low criminal homicide rate, but there tend to be less stories of suspects being shot and killed before sufficient evidence showed them to be life threatening.

I was able to find a link to an article about Korean cops using "excessive force." In America "excessive force" often means that somebody was killed (shot of course). In Korea, "excessive force" is less depressing and a little more humorous. In this case, it means that Korean cops brought unofficial tools of enforcement to a scene, because they don't carry guns and apparently their flashlights don't do the job as well as good old fashioned baseball bats and pool cues.

“Several police officers were too passionate about cracking down on adult game rooms. We will thoroughly inspect the case because the officers used unlawful weapons, such as baseball bats.”

Another consequence of stricter gun laws in Korea is that police officers are not regarded negatively. Cops in Korea lack Homer Simpson's "God mentality" that is often created by the possession of a gun. I'm not saying that all cops in America have God mentalities, but I'm less in the business of being particular, and more in the business of expounding generalities and honest stereotypes. And you're going to have a hard time convincing me that the average person doesn't feel a rush of power when a loaded gun is placed in his hand, police officers included. I believe it is this rush of power that not only adds to the increase in homicide rates in America, but also adds to the firmness of the speech and action of police officers that can often come off as forceful and unpleasant thus leading to a lower level of respect garnered from the general public for gun-wielding police officers.

I saw my first group of Korean beat cops the other week. Two were leaning over a spider-arm coin game (where you try and pick up a stuffed animal with a metal grappling-hook thing dangling from the top of a box) and the other one was playing games on his cell phone. This doesn't imply that banks were being robbed across the street and the cops weren't doing anything about it. This implies that banks were not being robbed, and the cops had enough free time on their hands to play games while on the job.

Cops here simply lack aggression and any sense of a power trip. They just hang around waiting to be called to a scene, not to potentially deal with a gun-wielding suspect, but probably to simply talk to some non-gun-wielding person about a problem. This isn't to say that Korea doesn't have its fair share of corrupt cops and that strict gun laws make cops nicer. The point is that the stricter gun laws prevent irreversible consequences (aka, deaths) and reduce the feeling of ill-will towards police officers.


Second insight. Stricter gun laws make it safe to walk around at night. No really. In Korea they have no idea what you mean when you say "the freaks come out at night." They would respond "you're calling my grandmother a freak?" I kid you not; I see ajumas (older Korean women) power-walking in the canal at one in the morning. I see 12 year olds walking by themselves down a dimly lit street after midnight. One night I even saw a group of three cyclists riding down the canal decked out in racing helmets and spandex while I was walking home from bars at 2 in the morning. No big deal.

For the first week I was in Korea, I was scared walking home from school at 11 pm, because there are dark alleys along the way that are prime for crime. I imagined some bum waiting for a foreigner like me to walk by so he could spring upon me to demand my wallet and shoes. You have to understand where I come from. A year before I came to Korea, a couple was robbed in the middle of the street where I lived (in the US) around 11 pm. The thief stole the girlfriend's purse and the boyfriend's wallet, then shot the boyfriend in the foot and ran. This was right outside where I lived and very easily could have been me. A couple years before that, a friend of mine from high school was shot and killed at an ATM in my neighborhood. No, not just in my city, but in my neighborhood a few blocks from my house. Needless to say, I don't walk around at night with my eyes closed. In Korea, however, I'm beginning to feel less threatened. No guns in Korea makes walking around significantly safer.

Third insight. With the absence of real guns comes the presence of realistic fake guns. This results in a much more subtle consequence of stricter gun laws. I would like to reiterate: In America, citizens are allowed to have guns in the their homes and on their person in public if they own proper permits. Police officers in America also carry guns because they would be ineffective against any gun-wielding suspect. In Korea, citizens are not allowed to have guns in their homes nor are they allowed to carry guns in public. Police officers in Korea do not carry guns because the potential of a suspect carrying a gun is drastically reduced by the strict gun laws.

Subtle consequence:
Kids carry realistic fake guns. My fellow teacher, whom we'll call Omar, confiscated two guns from his students who thought it would be cool to bring them to school. One is an exact replica of a Glock 9mm, with the same cocking mechanism, heavy metal, and everything. The only exception is that it shoots bee-bees instead of bullets. The other gun Omar confiscated was just as real looking, AND it had a silencer on it. I'm not talking plastic, bright pink silencer; I'm talking metal, black, removable silencer that screws onto the end of this bee-bee gun which looks a lot like something James Bond keeps in his back pocket. Did these children get in trouble for bringing guns to school? No sir. Omar simply confiscated two new Halloween props and the kids went on learning English.

In America, not only would these kids have been suspended indefinitely, but there's a good chance that they would be awaiting trial right now. A friend of mine in High School was suspended for 10 days because they found a pocket knife... in his truck... locked in a tackle box... under his lures next to his fishing poles. Think about that for a second. 10 Day suspension. True story. Imagine if he had a couple loaded, realistic-looking bee-bee guns in class.

Bringing a gun to school in America is no joke. Why is it no joke? Have you ever thought about it? Because guns are dangerous! Well, not exactly. Real guns are dangerous. Bee-bee guns are more painful than dangerous. Bringing a gun to a school in America is serious because the gun is likely to be real, and real guns kill people. Why is it likely to be real? Because Dads, Uncles, and older brothers own real guns. And where do they keep these guns? Not at local police stations, but under beds and in closets at their homes. And if little Johnny ever gets picked on, beat up, or chastised at school, he knows where to go to get a little respect from his classmates.

Not in Korea. If a kid brings a gun to school, it's a bee-bee gun. And bee-bee guns are not brought to school to get respect or to shoot anyone; they're brought to school because they're fun.

Last insight about stricter gun laws in Korea. You figure the moral of this one out.

Omar is a 6 foot tall, bald-headed, muscular-built, black Muslim from Oakland. In the right light, he takes on a striking resemblance to Lawrence Fishburne. So for Halloween, Omar naturally dresses up as Morpheus from The Matrix. We head out to bars and he brings along with him these two confiscated guns as props for his costume which mainly consists of black shades, a long black trench coat, and a gun in each hand. On the way out to bars, around 11:30 at night, with plenty of people walking around, he stops in at the convenience store to pick up a pack of cigarettes. From the outside, I watch him through the all-glass front of the store. In full view of the outside, he strides up to the counter, with both guns in his hands, points to the pack he wants with the Glock, lays the gun on the counter, pays the man and walks out. No big deal.

Ask yourself: In America, what would have happened if a 6 foot black man in an all black trench coat walked into a convenience store with two guns and pointed behind the register with one of the guns? Imagine a gun-wielding American cop was outside and saw Omar walk in. You tell me what would have happened.

Welcome to Korea. You are now free to walk about without fear.

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