Japanese politician and former PM Shinzo Abe shot at campaign event

[Yoused]

So far, he has not been pronounced dead but some stories are saying "there are no vital signs".

Japan Ex PM Shinzo Abe In "Very Grave Condition" After Shooting: 10 Facts

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was feared dead on Friday after being shot twice at a campaign event in the Nara region. He was "showing no vital signs" when he was taken to hospital, said reports.

www.ndtv.com

Guns are really hard to get in Japan. This may have been a homemade shotgun.



(and no, "10 points" is not a score, it means ten important elements of the story)

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I was surprised how long it was taking Japan to join the rest of the modern civilized world, but they really went big here. Welcome to the party.

 

[Andropov]

He has been confirmed dead now.

 

[ronntaylor]

This is extremely shocking in a nation that saw just one fatality due to gun usage. I did a double-take when I heard that mentioned last night. 2021 saw just ten crimes that involved guns (not counting guns used in suicides and accidents).

Abe's grandfather, a PM at the time, survived an assassination attempt decades ago.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Oh FFS

Hideo Kojima Misidentified As Shinzo Abe Assassin By News Channel, Politicians

Racist jokes comparing the former Japanese Prime Minister's killer to the Metal Gear Solid creator started the confusion

kotaku.com

Earlier today, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shockingly assassinated. Then the internet did its usual shitty thing of making bad jokes out of current events, and that eventually led to a news station in Greece misidentifying famous game developer Hideo Kojima as the assassin.

Shortly after today’s assassination, some shitty people in a dank corner of the internet joked that Abe’s suspected killer looked like Kojima. Eventually, this reached Twitter, where far-right French politician Damien Rieu—perhaps not understanding that it was a joke—retweeted images of Kojima with a comment that translates to “The extreme left kills,” helping spread it more. While Rieu did eventually delete the tweets, it seems the damage was already done and might have helped mislead at least one news station in Greece that covered the assassination.

During a segment about the attack on Abe, the station aired images of Kojima and misidentified him as the suspected assassin.

A viewer who contacted Kotaku about the news broadcast helped translate what is being said during the part where Kojima is shown on screen.

Tetsuya has confessed to his actions to the police, admitting that he wanted Abe dead because he was disappointed and upset with him. The police have learned that he [the culprit] had served in the Navy Special Forces and taught a unit in Medical School on Physiotherapy for dementia patients. He was passionate about Che Guevara.

It appears that some online—as well as this news broadcast—are connecting the killer to Che Guevara based entirely on one of the photos of Kojima, which shows him standing next to an image of the famous Cuban revolutionary leader.

And to be clear: No, Kojima isn’t the assassin, and the only reason this has become a thing is because of racists joking online that all Japanese people look the same. A horrible example of how shitty, offensive humor can have real-world consequences.

Hideo Kojima has yet to respond to being misidentified as the killer of Shinzo Abe, but I can’t imagine how horrible this situation is for the Metal Gear creator. Over on ResetEra, where a thread has developed about this situation, many are calling the people sharing this nonsense idiots and suggesting outlets and media companies don’t rip their stories from 4chan or joke accounts on Twitter. Good advice!

 

[AG_PhamD]

Very tragic loss of a very consequential leader in the shaping of modern Japan. What a horrific crime. It will be interesting to see how this gun was obtained (or made) in a country with such stringent firearms controls.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Very tragic loss of a very consequential leader in the shaping of modern Japan. What a horrific crime. It will be interesting to see how this gun was obtained (or made) in a country with such stringent firearms controls.

It's been covered, it was "home made".

Shinzo Abe Is Assassinated With a Handmade Gun, Shocking a Nation

In a country with tight gun laws and little violence, the killing of the former prime minister left many in stunned disbelief. “It’s so un-Japanese.”

www.nytimes.com

Shortly after the shooting at 11:30 on Friday morning, police chased down and arrested Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, at the scene. He has been charged with murder. Police officials said he used a “homemade” gun and confessed that he had intended to kill Mr. Abe because he believed the former prime minister to have some association with a group against which Mr. Yamagami held “a grudge.”

In a news briefing on Friday night, police officials from the Nara prefectural office said Mr. Yamagami had made the double-barreled gun, about 16 inches long and 7 inches wide, and that police had found several similar weapons in his apartment near the site.

The authorities have not said what charges he will face or what penalty they will seek. Japan is one of the few highly developed countries that has capital punishment; six people have been executed by hanging in the past three years. The law allows the death penalty for murder, but it is rarely applied for a single killing.

 

[AG_PhamD]

It's been covered, it was "home made".

I guess the question is where did he get the bullet or if he created some muzzle loading type device. I would expect Japan’s ammunition regulations to be just as strict as their gun purchasing laws. I can only suspect these home-made, very possibly 3D printed guns, will only become a greater problem as time and technology progresses. As far as I understand they often only last a shot or two before destroying themselves, but that’s one shot enough to kill someone.

I suppose 3D printed guns are somewhat irrelevant in the US when a clearly disturbed individual can have all the red flags in the world indicating they should absolutely not own a gun and yet they have no problem legally obtaining one anyways.

 

[DT]

I guess the question is where did he get the bullet or if he created some muzzle loading type device.

Yep.

From what I've read it has been described as a "shotgun", and a muzzle-loading type design without rifling. I also saw photos and discussion about how it used some kind of electrical firing mechanism. Sounds like a handheld "bomb" with some barrels to direct the blast. Apparently he had been researching the gun design, but also making gunpowder.

 

[JayMysteri0]

I guess the question is where did he get the bullet or if he created some muzzle loading type device. I would expect Japan’s ammunition regulations to be just as strict as their gun purchasing laws. I can only suspect these home-made, very possibly 3D printed guns, will only become a greater problem as time and technology progresses. As far as I understand they often only last a shot or two before destroying themselves, but that’s one shot enough to kill someone.

I suppose 3D printed guns are somewhat irrelevant in the US when a clearly disturbed individual can have all the red flags in the world indicating they should absolutely not own a gun and yet they have no problem legally obtaining one anyways.

That isn't really the question, because when it comes to wanting a weapon, that isn't really out of the question to get one. It didn't even need to be elaborate as 3D weapons if one wants to really know. The device as pointed out earlier was just a crude launcher of sorts. The country literally has a history of converting things ( farming tools for instance to make a Kama ) when swords were outlawed for any not a samurai or nobility.

If someone wants a weapon badly enough, no law ever really prevents them from getting their hands on one. One can use other items to craft a weapon for killing. The issue is if laws can be made to prevent mass killings or prevent the wide proliferation of weapons as we have here in the states. "Fortunately" the device used wouldn't allow for more than 2 killings at most, as opposed to what's become the sadly new frequent past time of America.