Japan has close to zero tolerance of gun ownership and one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the world, making the attack on Shinzo Abe a particularly extraordinary act of violence.
A 1958 postwar law on the possession of swords and firearms states: “No one shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords.”
The pathway to gun ownership in Japan takes 13 steps. First, potential gun owners need to join a hunting or shooting club, they then have to take a firearm class and pass a written exam, before getting a doctor to state they are mentally fit and have no history of drug dependency.
They then have to apply to take a full-day course in how to fire a gun and store it safely.
The police then interview potential gun owners about why they want a firearm and conduct a thorough background check that involves interviewing members of the person’s family, their relationship with their neighbours, employment history and their financial status.
If they pass, they can then apply for a gunpowder permit and get a certificate from a dealer about what sort of gun they want. They then need to buy an ammunition locker and gun safe, which is inspected by police, who then do another background check.
Among the few exceptions are shotguns for hunting and sport. Even then, prospective owners must attend classes and pass written and practical exams. They must then undergo psychological assessments to determine they are fit to own a firearm. Police background checks are exhaustive and even involve questioning the gun owners’ relatives.
Civilian ownership of handguns is banned. The few violations reported in the media usually involve members of the country’s yakuza crime syndicates. According to police, there were 21 arrests for the use of firearms in 2020, with 12 of them gang-related, Nikkei Asia reported.
There were six reported gun deaths in Japan in 2014, according to the National Police Agency, and the number rarely exceeds 10, in a country of 126 million people. In 2006, just two people were killed in gun attacks.
A 2022 report from the University of Washington revealed that, while the US had more than four firearm homicides per 100,000 people in 2019, Japan had almost zero. Comparing high-income countries in the World Bank with the rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 people, the US had 4.2, Australia had 0.18 and Japan 0.02, the report found.
In 2013, the country hit a record high for gun crime, with 40 criminal cases of guns being fired, but it has followed a downward trend since.
There are also strict laws about how many gun shops are allowed to open – in most of the countries’ 47 prefectures, a total of three gun shops can operate in each prefecture.
