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Looking Down the Barrel

Gun control and Asian Americans

By Phil Tajitsu Nash

The gun issue has created a deep chasm in the American body politic, with the Republican Party more aligned with the National Rifle Association (NRA, www.nra.org), and the Democratic Party more closely aligned with Handgun Control (www.handguncontrol.org). Rural voters are more likely than city dwellers to see guns and hunting as part of everyday life, and men are more likely than women to take a critical view of attempts to control their use of guns.

But gun violence has affected virtually every community in America. According to Americans for Gun Safety (AGS, www.americansforgunsafety.com), a new centrist organization that supports a “gun rights, as well as gun responsibilities” approach, the United States loses over 30,000 men, women and children to gun violence every year. On top of that, about 90,000 Americans of all ages are injured by guns each year.

If you look closer at the 30,000 gun-related deaths each year, says AGS, America is losing children ages 18 and under at the rate of 15 per school day—a number equal to the number killed at Columbine High School. According to the Federal government’s Centers for Disease Control (1998), an average of two children under 15, and 10 under 19, die from gun violence every day. Eighty-six percent of the firearm deaths of children under age 15 in the world occurred in the United States.

Asian Americans have not been immune to the epidemic of gun violence that has swept this country in recent years. Postal worker Joseph Ileto, Cambodian American schoolchildren in Stockton, Calif., and others have been hurt or killed by gunfire over the years.

The NRA and other pro-gun groups see the battle over gun ownership in terms of individual freedom, and cite a right to own a gun grounded in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Gun control groups, and the Clinton Administration, either dispute the reach of the Second Amendment or see the issue as one of freedom from gun violence, not freedom to own a gun. Between these two polarized positions is the view that ordinary citizens should be permitted to own guns, but that guns should be subject to the same kinds of routine safety and licensing regulations already in place for other potentially lethal objects, such as automobiles.

Meanwhile, the current debate on guns is heating up over the issue of preventing access to guns by criminals. For example, on Nov. 7, the citizens of Colorado and Oregon will vote on two ballot initiatives that would close the gun show loophole in those two states. Under current law, unlicensed gun dealers are permitted to sell firearms at gun shows without running a background check. This loophole has made gun shows a haven in which criminals and children can purchase guns, with no questions asked. The ballot initiatives (Amendment 22 in Colorado and Measure 5 in Oregon) would require background checks for all gun-show transactions.

On All Sides

In the Asian American community, Jeff Chan, a self-described “online firearms rights activist” (and Web master of www.rkba.org) has compiled one of the most browser-friendly archives of pro-gun information on the Internet. As a member of the Libertarian party, he views his gun-rights stance as tantamount to preventing government from quashing individual freedom.

“My particular interest in firearms is mainly the liberty issue,” Chan said. “However, a major reason honest people own guns is to have an effective means of defense against crime. Given that Federal Department of Justice research conducted on two occasions by James Wright for the National Institute of Justice proved that 90 percent of felons get their guns illegally, so-called ‘gun control’ only serves to make potential victims defenseless.

“So part of the reason I’m interested in this issue is to make sure people can continue to choose to own or not own the safest and most effective self-defense tools against crime, namely firearms.”

On the other end of the spectrum is Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig, a Japanese American senior citizen, whose views were shaped by the carnage of World War II. “If guns cannot be totally outlawed—which I believe they should be—only authorized personnel such as law enforcement officers and members of the armed forces should have guns,” she said. While she lived through one of the most massive government-sponsored deprivations of civil liberties in American history, she views big government as less of a danger than the use of, “guns as an instrument of death of human beings.”

Dr. William Liu, a professor of counseling psychology, has been at the forefront of Asian American Studies activities on both East and West Coasts for a decade. He sees himself as an advocate for “common-sense legislation” related to guns. “When I was growing up, guns and shooting sports were mostly taught to me through TV. I started ownership with pellet and air guns, and eventually moved on to firearms. My parents supported their children’s interest in guns and shooting sports as long as we were safe and responsible. They were the ones that took us to our gun safety courses, and introduced us to other adults and children who were involved in shooting sports.”

Liu sees several dimensions to the current societal debate over guns. “When I was younger, I was unaware of the social consequences of firearms in society. I came to realize that the proliferation of guns and the dearth of common-sense gun legislation were producing a society where guns were too readily available,” he said.

“Another issue that started to become more apparent was that, within the pro-gun circles, the rhetoric and paraphernalia were often conflated with pro-American jingoism, and more importantly, white supremacy. The myth-like history of guns in America has fueled the white supremacy movements, anti-government movements, and pro-gun faiths. Thus, as we discuss gun legislation, I am constantly amazed at the covert, and often overt, racism that is purported in support of gun ownership [for white middle-class citizens].”

Analyzing the whole range of hot topics in today’s gun legislation debates, Liu said, “I think that shooting sports can be recreational and considered like any other sport. I plan on pursuing some shooting sports while I’m here in Iowa. I’ve found that the faculty here reflect my opinion on guns and legislation, and thus, we can talk about shooting sports but not feel as though we need to take a pro-NRA stance ... There needs to be common-sense legislation around guns [licensure, registration].”