Override the veto!

Last Monday, we all learned of the threat from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said in effect: “Northern Marianas, allow multi-million dollar shooting resorts to be built and we will discourage our tourists from traveling to your island destination.”

The stated rationale for the ultimatum seemed rather flimsy: “CNMI, we don’t want you to build shooting resorts because we are afraid some of our own tourists might decide to commit suicide by shooting themselves in your luxurious shooting resorts?”

Come on, how many Japanese tourists are really likely to commit suicide in overseas shooting resorts? How many have done so in the past? Just one?

The Japanese government’s fear of massive tourist shooting resort suicides seems extremely far-fetched and unwarranted. Come on, what are the chances of this actually becoming a huge problem for Japan?

And even if some Japanese nationals do wish to commit hara kiri or seppuku, who is the Japanese government–which once encouraged it during World War II–to stop them? After all, it is their own lives we are talking about here. Japanese citizens, like citizens of every country in the world, should have every right to do with their lives as they see fit.

Or do Japanese lives belong to the Japanese government? And must the CNMI government be a party to this lack of individual freedom and stifling governmental paternalism on the part of the Japanese government?

If we are really for local self-government, and if we don’t like the Feds telling us what to do with our islands, then why must we kow-tow to this Japanese demand? Regardless of what other governments may think, CNMI citizens should have the right to bear arms and defend home and property. We should have the right to free trade and a capitalist system. We should have the right to erect shooting resorts. For that matter, who is our governor to deprive us of our natural, inalienable rights?

It is bad enough that we already have to contend with our own local government’s incessant paternalism; must we deal with the paternalism of other governments as well?

Important and fundamental issues of liberty aside, are we really to believe that the Japanese government dislikes our shooting resort proposal because they are afraid some of their nationals might commit suicide? Well, if that is really the case, then what about Guam, Hawaii and the rest of the United States of America? Do shooting galleries and shooting resorts not exist in other parts of the United States? And might the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also discourage its citizens from touring these other destinations as well (given the fact that guns and recreational shooting opportunities exist there)?

Obviously, the Japanese government will not discourage its tourists from traveling to Hawaii because Hawaii has shooting galleries and suicide might take place. Hawaii has had tourist shooting galleries for years.

So why does the Japanese government oppose our proposed shooting resorts? Because they will be built by Koreans?

Strictly a personal view. Charles Reyes Jr. is a regular columnist of Saipan Tribune. Mr. Reyes may be reached at charlesraves@hotmail.com