Abe’s slaying a shock in virtually gun-free nation
Due to strict laws, firearms violence an extreme rarity
TOKYO — The assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in broad daylight Friday shocked a world that has come to associate Japan with relatively low crime and strict gun control.
Abe was shot in the back while campaigning in the city of Nara for parliamentary candidates two days before the election, and died at a hospital.
The suspect apparently circumvented the nation’s ultra-tight gun regulations by building his own weapon. Police said the 15-inch device was obviously homemade, and one expert compared it to a muzzle-loading gun. Authorities confiscated similar weapons when they raided the suspect’s nearby one-room apartment.
The motive of the man, who was taken into custody at the scene, remained unclear.
Fatal gun violence is virtually unheard of in Japan, and most Japanese go through life without ever handling, or even seeing, a real gun. Stabbings are more common in killings.
Expressing a common reaction, Erika Inoue, a 25-year-old designer in Tokyo, said the gun violence was hard to process.
“The shooting part is confusing,” she said. “There are guns? In Japan?”
Japan’s firearms law states that, in principle, guns are not permitted in the country. There are exceptions for guns used in hunting, but the process of getting a license is time-consuming and expensive, so very few people go through the hassle.
A person must pass 12 steps before purchasing a firearm, starting with a gun-safety class and then passing a written exam administered three times a year. A doctor must sign off on the gun buyer’s physical and mental health. Other steps include an extensive background check and a police inspection of the gun safe and ammunition locker required for storing firearms and bullets.
Passing those hurdles will allow a license holder to shoot at clay targets. Hunting requires an additional license.
Importing guns into Japan is also illegal. The same rules apply to some kinds of knives and certain other weapons, like crossbows.
The shooting was all the more shocking because before Friday, even the idea of a political murder seemed like a relic of a long-gone era.
Tempers rarely run high in Japan’s famously sedate politics. Parliamentary debates usually don’t move beyond catcalls and faux outrage and even the ultraright-wing groups that regularly prowl city streets in black vans, blaring political propaganda, are viewed as more of a nuisance than a threat to public safety.
Major universities have rifle clubs, and Japanese police are armed, but gun ownership rights have been a distant issue for decades. Even police rarely resort to firing their pistols.
With a population of 125 million, the country had just 10 gun-related criminal cases last year, resulting in a single death and four injuries, according to police. Eight of those cases were gang-related.
Tokyo had zero gun incidents, injuries or deaths that same year, although 61 guns were seized there.
“Japanese people are in a state of shock,” said Shiro Kawamoto, professor at the College of Risk Management at Nihon University in Tokyo.
“This serves as a wake-up call that gun violence can happen in Japan, and security to protect Japanese politicians must be re-examined,” Kawamoto said. “To assume this kind of attack will never happen would be a big mistake.”
Abe’s security team may face serious questions. But because such attacks are extraordinary in Japan, relatively light security is the norm, even for former prime ministers. The last high-profile shooting occurred in 2019, when a former gang member was shot at a karaoke venue in Tokyo.
The weapon used in the attack on Abe was probably a “craft-made” firearm, according to N.R. JenzenJones, the director of Armament Research Services, a specialist arms investigations firm.
“Firearms legislation in Japan is very restrictive, so I think what we’re seeing here, with what’s probably a muzzle-loading weapon, is not just an attempt to circumvent the control of firearms, but also the strict control of ammunition in Japan,” he said.
In recent weeks, Japanese media watched the spate of mass shootings in the United States with a mix of disbelief and confusion. Unlike the United States, where gun rights are a constant topic of debate, firearms are rarely discussed in Japanese political circles. Mass killings — in the rare instances when they occur — usually do not involve guns. Instead, perpetrators resort to arson or stabbings.