TOKYO: On June 8, the former PM of Japan was shot in the broad daylight which left the entire Japan in shock. Abe was declared dead when he arrived at the hospital. The gun through which the Politician was shot dead was a handmade firearm that was made so roughly that it was wrapped up in tape. The gun was 40-centimetre-long (16 inches).
The highly profiled politician was killed on Friday when he was campaigning for his ruling party in Nara, Japan. The gun looked crude, more of a propellant made of pipes taped together that were filled with explosives.
The Police said that they raided the suspect’s home, a one-room bedroom flat, and found more such guns. Practically, handmade guns are impossible to trace which makes them hard to investigate.
Weapons like these are rarely used in Japan as most of the attacks involve the move of stabbing, demolishing places with gasoline and setting them ablaze. Perhaps due to the strict gun laws in Japan, the suspect choose a handcrafted gun.
Arrested accused Tetsuya Yamagami knew how to handle the assembled weapons as he was a former member of Japan’s navy.
As per the crime experts, instruction on how to make a gun is all over the internet, and a gun can be made via a 3D printer.
Prior to this incident, Japan has seen attacks on politicians in the past. In 1960 Abe’s grandfather, then Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi was stabbed, however, he survived.
In 1975, When then prime minister Takeo Miki was assaulted at the funeral for former Prime Minister Eisaku Satu, Abe’s great-uncle, Japan set up a security team designed after the American Secret Service.
Hideto Ted Osanai, chief executive at the International Bodyguard Association in Japan, and many other experts believe that the Japanese may have just learned superficial things such as escort formation instead of the prevention mindset critical to security.
“Japenese are so used to leading peaceful lives, the security guards were caught asleep,” says Yasuhiro Sasaki, President of Safety-Pro, a Tokyo-based security company.
Sasaki also said that he couldn’t believe that no one went to protect Abe in the seconds between the first and second shots, the scene is shown over and over on National television.
The guards around him should have pulled Abe away from the danger, Sasaki said. He wondered how come they weren’t aware of the suspicious person moving towards Abe.
Isao Itabashi, chief, of a research division at the council for public policy. Who oversees risks like these, said that providing security while ongoing election campaigns were challenging where the whole point is for politicians to get close to people.
Here in Japan, the use of bulletproof glass is scant, and security officials rarely shoot potential attackers.
“The presumption here us that people are not armed,” Itabashi said.
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