TOKYO, July 9 (Reuters) – The man suspected of killing former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a homemade gun on Friday was able to make the weapon in a day or two after obtaining readily available materials such as wood and metal pipes , say analysts.
The attack showed that gun violence cannot be completely eradicated, even in a country where strict gun laws mean it is almost unheard of for citizens to buy or own firearms.
In recent years, there have been some cases of people illegally making weapons themselves in Japan. But still, gun crime is very rare in Japan: There were 10 shooting incidents last year, eight involving gangsters, according to police figures. One person was killed and four were injured.
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“Manufacturing 3D-printed weapons and making bombs today can be learned from the Internet from anywhere in the world,” said Mitsuru Fukuda, a professor at Nihon University who specializes in crisis management and terrorism.
“It can be done in two to three days after receiving parts such as pipes,” said Fukuda, who analyzed images of the gun used in Abe’s shooting.
Video footage shows the attacker shooting Abe with a device that has a pistol grip and what appears to be two pipes covered in black electrical tape. Police arrested a 41-year-old man at the scene and said he admitted to shooting Abe; the suspect was later identified as Tetsuya Yamagami.
“Anyone with a basic knowledge of how guns work could do it with minimal knowledge,” said firearms commentator Tetsuya Tsuda, adding that it may not have even taken half a day to produce the weapon used during the attack.
Japanese media said on Saturday that the suspect told investigators that he had searched online for instructions on how to make firearms and had also ordered parts and gunpowder on the Internet.
The gun measured 40 by 20 centimeters (15.7 by 7.9 inches) and was made of materials such as metal and wood, Nara prefectural police officials told reporters on Friday.
Police did not rule out the possibility that the bullets were also hand-made, but said they were still investigating.
Investigators seized what appeared to be five handguns from Yamagami’s house, the Mainichi newspaper reported on Saturday.
EASY TO MAKE
“Crude but deadly, manufactured (…) firearms like this are easy to make,” said NR Jensen-Jones, a weapons and ammunition intelligence specialist at the Australia-based Armaments Research Service.
Images of the firearm show that an electrical wire runs through the end cap of each barrel.
This points to the use of an electric launch mechanism, Jensen-Jones said.
“The electrical initiation method (…) was probably chosen in this case because conventional cartridges are much more difficult to acquire in Japan than in many other regions,” he added.
In recent years, there have been several cases of people being arrested in Japan for illegally manufacturing firearms.
In 2018, police arrested a 23-year-old man in the western city of Himeji for making a gun and more than 130 bullets at home. Also that year, police arrested a 19-year-old student in the city of Nagoya for making explosives as well as a gun using a 3D printer.
In 2014, police arrested a 27-year-old man for illegally possessing 3D-printed guns in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo.
The problem of illegal weapons production is not limited to Japan. For example, officials in Spain found a replica assault rifle and small arms in a raid on an illegal factory found to be making 3D-printed weapons in April 2021. read more
The suspect in the Abe shooting told investigators he produced weapons with three, five and six metal barrels in addition to the one he used in the attack, media said.
Weapons Specialist Jenzen-Jones said the weapon used in the incident was at the lower end of the capability spectrum.
“However, it was clearly lethal,” he added.
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Reporting by Ju-min Park and Daniel Leussink; Additional reporting by Sakura Murakami Editing by Frances Carey
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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