The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will no doubt stir up the far-right for at least a dozen reasons. The gun-rights absolustists absolutists (make of that typo what you will, which I’ve left in on purpose) should probably quit the hyperventilating, though, as CNN notes:
[The assassin] used a homemade gun in the shooting, and authorities confiscated several handmade pistol-like items from his apartment, police said.
Due to stringent gun control, as you can find at the same link, this disgruntled person was forced to make his own gun. Police haven’t said, but I doubt it was useful for more than a couple of shots.
Incidentally, in the recent past attempted Japanese political assassinations have involved the use of swords.
Do Japanese gun control laws work?
Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan.
In 2018, Japan, a country of 125 million people, only reported nine deaths from firearms — compared with 39,740 that year in the United States.
Measuring the non-existent is always a tricky business, but the numbers are noteworthy.
