Regarding David Rothauser's March 10 letter, "Abolishing nuclear weapons use": Rothauser believes that nuclear weapons can be abolished "because we don't need them." Exactly how this ban is to be accomplished he does not say.
e mentions that one of his Japanese students said Japan bans handguns because "we don't need them." I suppose the student meant that, because of Japan's lower violent crime rates, most Japanese consider gun ownership for self-defense to be unnecessary. This blissful attitude might be small comfort for Japan's murder, rape or robbery victims. Japanese criminals seem to have little trouble finding knives or other weapons.
That aside, it is safe to say that the Japanese nation is located in a rather dangerous "neighborhood" when you consider that China, North Korea and Russia are not the friendliest of neighbors. The level of naivete of certain individuals is baffling. What in the world makes them believe that China or Russia is ever going to voluntarily give up its nuclear weapons? And what about North Korea, Iran and Pakistan?
Certainly it would be nice if all the bad people and bad governments in the world stopped doing bad things and gave up all their bad weapons. It would also be nice if Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny gave me lots of presents. Anyway, since Japan already benefits from the protection of the U.S. military, including its nuclear deterrent, it allows many self-deluding people to babble pacifist slogans and make themselves sound ridiculous.