War was terrible before the gun, and war will be terrible long after the gun too has gone long out of fashion.

Swap the word "gun" with that of any weapon. Nakamura-dono's words are beautiful, but the realist in me can only look to even a brief study of history to refute them--though he does so some himself, for which the man is due his honours.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Whether it was made by spears, swords, rifles, or bombs, the meaning of a field of bodies will never be appreciated by urban folk until they themselves are among the dead and dying. Curse the gun? May as well curse the bow, for showing the way. Curse the bow? A pox on the sword, for bringing the trappings of "honor" and "righteousness" to killing. Curse the sword? Curse the spear for bringing simple killing beyond the reach of a man's arm. Curse the spear, and to the crows with the rock, for making killing a thing that a man can blame upon something other than himself.

Curse the rock and you get to the root of the problem: Curse the killer.