New Delhi: Japan has very strict laws on gun ownership, which makes former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination Friday by a gunman an extremely rare and astounding case of gun violence.
A 1958 law on the possession of firearms and swords simply states: “No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords.”
In 2018, Japan – a country of 126 million people – reported only nine deaths from firearms, as compared to 39,740 in the United States, CNN said.
Under the country’s laws, the only guns allowed to be sold are shotguns and air rifles. Handguns are illegal. But getting even the permitted firearms is an arduous process.
The road to owning a gun in Japan has 13 steps, The Guardian reported.
The potential owners need to first join a hunting or shooting club. Then they have to take a firearm class and a written exam.
A doctor will then certify that the potential owner was mentally fit and not dependent on drugs.
The report said the applicant will then have to take a full-day course in how to fire a gun and store it safely. They also have to pass this shooting test with an accuracy of at least 95%.
Then there are background checks on the person’s criminal record, personal debt, involvement in organised crime and relationship with family, friends and neighbours.
Once he passes, the applicant can apply for a gunpowder permit and get a certificate from a dealer about the kind of gun they want.
They then need to buy an ammunition locker and a gun safe, which is inspected by the police, who then run another background check.
The Guardian reported that civilian ownership of handguns are banned. Gun deaths in a year rarely passes the double-figure mark, the highest in recent times being in 2013 with 40 criminal cases of guns being fired.
The last public shooting of a Japanese politician was in 2007 when the mayor of Nagasaki, Iccho Ito, was shot in the back at point blank range. He died from a cardiac arrest.
Following this incident, gun laws were further revised, with punishment for gun-related offences pushed up to 15 years to a life term.
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