Cho Seung Hui and Musings on Gun Control in Korea

This week in my adult conversation class we had an interesting discussion about the whole Seung Hui Virgina Tech shooting that occurred last month. Some interesting points came up in our conversation...

• Korean people, although saddened by the tragedy, were very concerned about their international reputation. Would people look at them strangely or treat them differently because they are from South Korea?
• They questioned the lack of gun control in the USA. In Korea, only the police and army are permitted to own, store, and use a firearm. Even the prisoners that I teach English to everyday say that they don't know anyone with a real gun in their home.
• They also questioned the social systems in the USA that deal with mental health issues. They thought it could be inadequate in dealing with people that are severely mentally disturbed. Interestingly, Korea has a significantly lower rate of diagnosing mental illness when compared to the USA or Canada.
• All healthy men must serve 2 years of military service in Korea. That pretty much means that 99% of the Korean dudes over 25 have experience with firearms.
• The use of guns in Korea is so socially sewn into the culture, that every weekend it's completely normal for me to see a gang of Elementary School boys packin' heat. Of course they don't use real guns (just ones that fire off pellets) but they have one wall in every toy store that is jammed full of exact replicas. I mean these things look so real that, when I first got to Korea and saw the local miniature Mafia gang bangin', my jaw almost hit the pavement! Apparently, moms & dads have no issue with buying these look-a-like MIGs and AKs for their 5 year olds! In fact they don't even need to buy them for their kids, there's no law governing the sale of these air AKs so the gun touting tots can save their allowance and buy it themselves! When I polled the class everyone said they have been shoot by a bebe or 2 in their life time...

Thank God it wasn't the real thing like the hundred and some students at Virgina Tech.