Taiwan, Gun Control, and the Threat From China

I don’t spend a lot of time studying up on geopolitics much of the time, simply because there’s just way too much going on domestically. However, I know that Taiwan is an ally and that China likes to think Taiwan belongs to them. We’ve tried to disabuse them of the notion, but the ChiCom government there isn’t exactly quick on the uptake.

There’s some saber-rattling going on, which isn’t unusual in and of itself, but there have been some indications that things are about to get sporty.

Over at the NRA’s America’s 1st Freedom, though, they talk about Taiwan a little bit in a way you and I can probably understand fully.

I am reporting this from Taipei, Taiwan, and all around this island the shadow of a possible Chinese invasion feels ever more possible. Taiwan is a democratic, strategically vital island that, in a sense, faces a dire security contradiction. It boasts a highly trained military, compulsory male conscription and a population known for its resilience and tech-savviness. But it is missing one vital piece of the national defense puzzle: an armed citizenry.

Taiwan is now trying to build up its civilian readiness. Yet despite a surge in interest in urban warfare training and emergency medical courses among civilians, the Taiwanese government remains stubbornly attached to one of the strictest gun-control regimes in the world.

China’s ambitions toward Taiwan are no secret. China has expanded its naval forces, ramped up air and sea incursions around Taiwan’s perimeter and employed disinformation campaigns to destabilize Taiwanese morale.

Taiwan, to its credit, has not stood still. But one thing hasn’t changed: almost no one in Taiwan can legally own a gun.

The Rifle That Isn’t Behind Every Blade of Grass

Taiwan’s gun laws make those of New York City look lax. Outside of tightly restricted exceptions for law enforcement, indigenous hunters using archaic muzzleloaders and rare cases of civilian sport shooters under heavy regulation, gun ownership is simply off the table.

That’s not to say the Taiwanese haven’t tried to change this. For more than 15 years, lawmakers and citizens alike have called for revisiting these laws in the name of national security.

The piece, written by Susanne Edwards, notes that Taiwan technically has a “shall-issue” permit to purchase scheme that requires some basic criteria prior to someone being allowed to buy a gun, but that, in practice, it never happens. No one hands out the application except to the well-connected.

And that is absolutely insane.

While the Yamamoto quote about a rifle being behind every blade of grass is apocryphal, the sentiment itself isn’t wrong. An armed populace is a lot harder to fight. Our experiences in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq should illustrate that point pretty well. In the Gulf War, we rolled Saddam Hussein’s forces up in a matter of days once ground operations began. We did it again in the opening stages of the Iraq War. There is no conventional force on the planet that can withstand what the American military can do.

But guerrilla operations are different. Insurgencies are different, and that’s what an armed populace can bring to the table.

Taiwan shouldn’t view gun ownership as some privilege for the well-connected, but as an essential national defense strategy.

Look at Ukraine, for example. When it became clear that Russia was going to invade, they started arming people as fast as possible, offering training in local parks, and loosening gun laws so people could get firearms of their own.

They knew that they’d need to mobilize a massive portion of their population to fight off their larger neighbor and, while that hasn’t been the totality of what’s taken place, it sure didn’t hurt in their efforts to stop the Russian invasion.

The Chinese military might be willing to accept a lot heavier casualties than the American people, but there comes a point where anyone will break, and while conventional forces might make them reach that point, it’s silly to bank on it.

Taiwan should loosen their gun laws, not just allow but encourage people to buy firearms, and offer training by military instructors on how to fight with a firearm.

Make the entire island such a fearsome foe that Chinese saber-rattling, while not coming to an end, is nothing more than bluster instead of a real threat.