Shinzo Abe assassination shooting
In this image from a video, Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, is attended on the ground in Nara, western Japan Friday, July 8, 2022. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, one of his nation's most powerful and influential figures, has died after being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, hospital officials said. (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan is one of the most heavily gun-controlled democracies on Earth. That, however, didn’t stop an assassin from using what appears to be a homemade firearm to shoot and kill former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he delivered a campaign speech in western Japan.

From the AP . . .

Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara. He was airlifted to a hospital for emergency treatment but was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead despite emergency treatment that included massive blood transfusions, hospital officials said.

Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world’s safest nations and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. …

Public television NHK aired a dramatic video of Abe giving a speech outside a train station in the western city of Nara.

He is standing, dressed in a navy blue suit, raising his fist, when two gunshots are heard. The video then shows Abe collapsed on the street, with security guards running toward him. He holds his chest, his shirt smeared with blood.

Shinzo Abe assassination shooting
Tetsuya Yamagami, bottom, is tackled near the site of gunshots in Nara Prefecture, western Japan, Friday, July 8, 2022. Yamagami shot and killed former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, hospital officials said.(Katsuhiko Hirano/The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP)

In the next moment, security guards leap on top of a man in gray shirt who lies face down on the pavement. A double-barreled device that appeared to be a handmade gun is seen on the ground.

Video of the shooting was captured by some in the crowd.

This video from another angle shows the assassin approach Abe from behind as he delivered his speech, take aim and fire twice.

These photos show the suspect carrying what appears to be a homemade shotgun . . .

Nara prefectural police confirmed the arrest of Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, on suspicion of attempted murder. They said an explosives team raided the suspect’s home to gather evidence. NHK reported that the suspect served in Japan’s navy for three years in the 2000s and that he said he wanted to kill Abe because he had complaints that were not related to political views.

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122 COMMENTS

    • Slamfire shottie? Two shots is all you need, according to Joe…

      I’m not quite sure what the attacker expected to get out of this senseless act, seeing as Abe was no longer in office and capable of any policy changes. Unless, as some posit below, Abe was an “easier” target marked by a foreign entity, and the attacker was only a pawn.

      Dunno.

      • According to one report I read, the Perp user electricity to fire the home made weapon. It didn’t go into much detail of how the circuit he made worked, but it’s certainly possible to make such, either to ignite the primer,, or the powder itself.
        Maybe we’ll hear more as information is released.

    • But the private billionaire Hi-Tech communication companies, will still keep on trying to stop that signal.

      • Let them try. Evading that horse chit rn, and after 16 yrs. of practicing the art of the ghost, I see no reason to discontinue doing so. In fact, quite the opposite.

  2. This really sucks more than a lot of folks may yet realize. I don’t think a hit from behind is the style of the Yakuza. Most likely the UN globalist in the CCP, or they had North Korea do this for them.

    They (North Korea) can be put up to do anything for China. If the UN – CCP globalists think Trump may return to office they will eliminate his allies before he gets elected. It will help erode his power base. Look for some Saudis or some in Latin America to get hit next like Brazil.

    • … or just another person with violent tendency mental illness resulting from his emotional fixation on his grievances.

      Not every shooting is some sort of vast conspiracy based thing of some behind the scenes ‘government’ or shadowy organization or some political based assassination scheme.

      • Well I’m staying with my opinion and not yours until somebody in Japan that has their shlt together proves otherwise.

      • Reports are the guy claimed Abe ‘frustrated’ him, that was his motivation…

        • yep, frustration makes a guy want to go to the lengths this clown did. You really need to have some seriously deep seated hatred to build a gun from scratch AND improvise propellent and projectiles, that shit takes time and forethought to bring it all together and make it go bang at the right time. I sense more than a casual case of frustration.

        • Instructions abound on improvised propellant, black powder.

          It was a shottie, so a handful of small nuts and bolts works just fine as projectiles…

      • North Korea did have some issues with Abe and China could be looking for a distraction to make a move on Taiwan, a little chaos goes a long way.

    • Japan has a history of political assassinations, typically coming from dissatisfied junior level military officers. It could be anything but a state actor or the mob is not necessarily the answer.

    • to Dude

      Since you as usual are totally ignorant of foreign people and their countries let me fill you in on some history. You just may learn something today.

      Japan has been wearing masks religiously all year round because of the vast amount of softwood trees planted after WWII that were needed for new construction following the devastating terror raids by U.S. War planes on Japanese Civilians (not military targets) during WWII. The result was massive pollen counts that the city people had no natural immunity to. This is what started the mask wearing decades before the covid outbreak.

      In our own recent history the wearing of masks due to covid that were often mandatory reduced flu deaths to almost zero in the U.S. All this was and still is lost on the minds of the primitive minds of the Far Right. Your comment leads one to believe you are an anti-masker as well.

      • Yes, I realize they’ve been wearing masks for years before Covid. I also realize everyone there isn’t wearing a mask because of allergies in their concrete jungle. Many flu deaths were labeled as Covid deaths. If a patient had Covid, or was suspected of having Covid, then the government labeled that as a Covid death, regardless of the actual cause of death.

      • @ 09:31

        Thanks for your reasonable comments. They’re a nice counter to the snark by the knuckle draggers.

      • Bullcrap Dacian! I’ve spent a ton of time in Japan over the last twenty-five years.

        Japanese people historically wear these masks if they feel under the weather. Therefore, you occasionally see a few people on the street wearing them (usually 5% or less). In the middle of summer it would be far less than that.

        They are wearing them all the time now because they have been programmed to be fearful and conformist. Japanese media hypes up stuff like Covid.

        I love Japanese people, but dang! Their conformity is both a great strength and a great weakness.

        • Mask wearing is part of the culture there. They tried to make it so here, but Americans weren’t submissive enough to make it happen.

        • herr dacian has never left Ohio. He doesn’t understand that simply cruising you tube is not an education.

        • to dud brain
          quote————Mask wearing is part of the culture there. They tried to make it so here, but Americans weren’t submissive enough to make it happen.——quote

          You really twisted that reponse. The Far Right Americans were too damn stupid to wear masks and died by the thousands while the Asian people wore them and had far less deaths and everyone knows China has way more people than the U.S. does but had way less deaths. The Hillbillies caused the U.S. to have the highest death rate from Covi-19 on the planet and all because the morons would not wear masks or get vaccinated. I am sure this is all way over your head.

        • to Jethro W.M.

          Quote————-herr dacian has never left Ohio. He doesn’t understand that simply cruising you tube is not an education.———quote

          And I am sure you came by this information from listening to the voices in your head or looking into your crystal ball. You nothing about my personal life and still make wild accusations about it, including laughable comments about my age which even a moron would not have made because even some of them have reading comprehension. I am sure you do not know why I made that statement.

        • Dacian I LAUGH at the fact that you are actually DUMB enough to believe CCP/china reported number of deaths caused by covid
          and in other news “no protester’ was ever run over by a tank in the whole nation’s history!”

        • Of course he believes China. Apparently, NY and NJ are full of “hillbillies.” It turns out there are old people and people with health conditions everywhere in the country who died from Covid. Lil d thinks it’s only the “hillbillies” because that’s what the TV doctors tell him to think.

          Hey d, are you double masking every time you go out in public? Why are why not? Be honest. Covid is still around you know. It will always be around. So always wear your obedience mask.

        • quote————So always wear your obedience mask.—-quote

          Dud brain summer covid is on the rise in the U.S. and in my area as well. I just checked this today on the Government web site. Its also becoming rampant again in both France and in Japan.

          And yes Moron I do still wear my mask and its an industrial one with dual filters that even take out not only covid but are so large (double right and left filters) they even take out radiation.

        • I don’t doubt it for a second, but wearing two masks is just common sense according to Mr Science. Where’s your second mask? Don’t you believe in Science? You must think he was FOS. I take it you aren’t fully vaxxed and boosted or you don’t trust the vax if you’re still wearing a mask.

        • To Dud Brain

          Your wild speculation about what I do and do not do is from listening to the voices in your head. For the Record I have been vaccinated 4 times and plan on a 5th vaccination this fall. And yes I still wear my mask and will continue to do so. I suggest you start watching some accredited news channels some time, including foreign ones. Get off Foxy News for a change its a joke.

        • Are these accredited news channels the same ones that pushed the Russia Collusion story for three years, then promptly dropped it when it was obvious it was a lie from the beginning perpetrated by Democrats and the DOJ? Why wasn’t that part a big story? Hmm… I’ve told you before, but apparently you weren’t listening. I ditched cable years ago. I don’t watch the news. I read it. I don’t take anything I read seriously unless I can verify the source. Cable news channels mostly take journalists’ work and interpret it for you. I don’t need an interpreter. Those same people tried to say I couldn’t read a medical study and understand it because I’m not a medical doctor. Even the CDC will contradict their own data with their messaging. They do that because they know most people won’t verify the data. Most people just listen to the TV doctors.

          “Get off Foxy News”
          Wild speculation much? I rarely even look at Fox News online. They aren’t good at linking their sources. Plus, they aren’t that great anyway, so why bother? As far as my “wild speculation” goes, it sounds like I’m correct. You wear a mask because you don’t trust your multitude of vaxxes to protect you from Covid. You also don’t trust the mask or you wouldn’t need a multitude of experimental injections to protect you from Covid.

      • Those horrible war crimes committed by the US, herr dacian? Remember who was in charge of the military then? FDR. The progressive socialist president. The one that rounded American citizens up at gun point because of their race.

        • to Jethro the high school drop out.

          quote————Those horrible war crimes committed by the US, herr dacian?———-quote

          I could write volumes about U.S. war crimes in many of the wars the U.S. fought or started. Next you will be telling me that the U.S. never committed any. That sounds really bizarre coming from a Vietnam Veteran.

          quote———–Remember who was in charge of the military then? FDR.———-quote

          Oh brother that statement was rich, now a high school dropout is trying to give me a History Lesson. By the way Jethro if you had any reading comprehension you would have known I have often condemned Roosevelt for what he did to Japanese/American citizens but you either did not understand my posts are as usual ignored them altogether.

        • Never ignored your comments, herr dacian. They are comedy gold. Never remember you condemning anybody but anybody that did not agree with you.

          As for education. Remember some of us have been to your facebook after you were doxxed. jerry p; of canton Ohio. The age you appeared in your photos shows youth. And you argue like a 13yo.

          And no mention of degrees.

        • “to Jethro the high school drop out.”

          Your entire shtick is to rail against the evil Republicans and venerate the benevolent Democrats. If you’re against evil and bad behavior, then why are you the biggest ass on this site? Look in the mirror Jerry. What are you doing to contribute to society?

      • Yeah…Amazing how when Big Pharma is busy making covid shots that the alleged flu epidemic each year is nothing big at all. And of course the mask, being intelligent enough to know what a flu virus vs a covid virus looks like, could screen out the flu virus (check out even the CDC study showing masks did not help covid from spreading).

        But hey, facts are not something you obviously care too much about when it comes to the masks for covid. I bet the people smart enough to beat covid, with ivermectin (like in my family after being diagnosed with covid, ) also are just fantasy to you as well?

        However, you are dead on about Japan and them using masks for a long time now.

        Let’s go brandon!

  5. Muzzle-loader, electrically fired.

    Quite possibly the most difficult to control by usual means. Home-made gunpowder and projectiles, barrel simple plumbing pipe. Human urine can provide the nitrate. Sulphur from matches, charcoal from a campfire, impossible to stop the manufacture.

    Well, Japan will change how they expose their political class to the public… 🙁

    • Rest assured the government will blame the general populace and guns and enact more anti-freedom laws.

    • David Chipman, a former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives official and Biden’s first nominee to lead the agency, said he’s never seen a homemade gun like the one linked to the suspect.

      From the available photographs, Chipman noted the weapon’s exposed wires, indicating an electrical circuit of some kind. The electrical mechanism could suggest it was a way of evading Japan’s strict gun laws.

      “This guy couldn’t get traditional ammunition probably, because it’s highly regulated,” Chipman told USA TODAY. “He had to basically make an explosive. We call it a shaped charge.”

      Where are the shocked emojis when you need them? I guess this proves it: this guy really is that stupid. I have little doubt that multiple members here could build precisely that weapon with just a visit to the local hardware store.

      • Pencil pushers and city slickers have little grasp on reality being programmed to think everything has to be bought as a finished product.

        This sicko wanted to murder the guy…obviously he wanted it so bad he was not going to let anything stop him…this includes finding a way to make a weapon.

        The difference main here is that had this sicko been in America, he could have run for office under a democratic ticket, been elected, and then he could kill off as many people as he wanted without the law touching him (while also becoming a media hero).

  7. Sad to hear this. I met Prime Minister Abe back in 2012 and closely followed his career and style of governance. “Abenomics” was controversial, made him a lot of enemies, but it worked. There’s a reason why he was the longest serving prime minister in history.

    • JWT focusing the conversation on himself again. Typical boomer.

      Abenomics was: money printing and deficit spending. Japan’s public debt is 270% of GDP now. The Nikkei bubble started to reinflate, but wages stayed stagnant. I call Abenomics: Boomernomics.

      Yen printer go brrrrrrrrrr 💴 🖨

      • “Boomer gets it wrong and makes it about himself, again”

        And, angry and frustrated little boy with nothing substantial between his legs tries to make it about himself, yet again.

        And fails again. Like usual. Really, just go play in traffic at midnight, OK? The world will thank you… 🤣

        • Ok, boomer. Are you actually defending seigniorage? WTF is wrong with the world when you can’t criticize money printing on a gun forum?

          JWT claimed money printing works, at least that it did in Japan. I’m calling him out publically for it.

          You probably don’t even know what seigniorage even is, boomer.

        • “…publically…”

          At least we do know how to spell correctly there, grasshopper.

          Grasshoppers enjoy making fun of older folks, but we just smile knowingly. You see, we know that your main goal in life is to continue living, which means eventually become one of us, even if you haven’t made the connection yet. It’s one of the prerogatives of being your senior.

        • “Ok, boomer.”

          You really are stupid, I’m not a ‘boomer’… 😉

      • Okay “Reply”, since we’re inventing new words, lets go with ” Xidenomics”. Yeah, that has a nice ring to it, don’t it ?

        • Yeah, except China hasn’t been printing Yuan. Biden, Yellen, and Powell are terrible in their own right. China didn’t force us to debase our currency. The People’s Bank of China seems to care about their own people, unlike our Communist bafoon Biden $15/gal milk clown show that’s really run by a teleprompter.

          Let’s just call it Bidenomics.

        • China didn’t force us to debase our currency?? WTF do you call buying a great majority of imported goods from them, while our only export to THEM is oil released from our strategic reserves ??
          KluLes and HunnTer XiDen are the only ones making out on that trade defecit.

      • Kid, again, still, stop going online begging me for the attention your father should have given you. I ain’t your daddy. Time to grow up.

        • Nice ad hominem instead of defending liberal economic policies.

          You can’t defend Abenomics in good faith, so you call me names.

    • Abenomics: letting Paul Krugman run your central bank.

      Print yen and spend money you don’t have. Japan’s debt to GDP is 270%. That’s like having a household income of $100k and having $270k in credit card debt.

      “The print must go on 💴 printer 🖨 brrr”

  9. This is gonna suck on SO many levels, conspiracy or not it’s just MORE fuel to the fire and repercussions WILL be felt around the world..

  10. It was an unserialized weapon of war! Goes to show there are people everywhere who get evil ideas and act them out only to wind up dead or in prison. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

  11. Years ago another Japanese politician was murdered by a guy with a bayonet during a speech.

    Guns are not needed for murder and violence.

    • jwm,

      True, but reports are that the firearm was “home built”, so I think it also proves that “gun control” laws are a waste of time. Sure, knives, clubs, cars, poison, explosives (homemade or acquired) can and are used, but obviously even if they “outlaw” guns, determined killers will get them or build them. Only persons living in an alternate reality (like, for instance, dacian the stupid and MinorIQ) believe that “gun control” is effective.

      • Japan had terrorists home-brew Sarin gas, and kill with it.

        Chemical suppliers in China are happy to make any chemical intermediate you desire, then mis-label it as something beguine, and ship it to you internationally…

      • Lots of duct tape seems to be an effective material for assemblying some firearms.
        Ban duct tape!!!
        I’ve seen MythBusters and others, make all kinds of stuff out of duct tape.

      • You had someone who was determined to circumvent whatever laws were in place. It was reported on local radio this morning (just after 8am locally) the suspect had a number of homemade firearms when the police searched the residence.

      • Lamp you are really totally out of your gourd.

        Yeah , sure lets do away with all gun control laws to the U.S. can increase its death toll from gunfire 1,000% or Japan should do away with their excellent gun control so they have massacres every day by assault rifle.

        I am sure this is your idea of a gun Utopia.

        • dacian the stupid,

          Other than that incoherent, void-of-substance rant, do you have an actual point (other than the one on your head, Zippy)?? Nah, didn’t think so.

          You tout Japan as a shining beacon of “enlightened gun control” policies . . . and when one of their political leaders is assassinated IN PUBLIC, with a homemade weapon (remenber me warning you that any moron (well, except you – you’re TOO much of a moron) could make an improvised weapon?), your response is “if they didn’t outlaw guns, it would be worse!!” My ENTIRE POINT was that “outlawing guns” is quasi-intellectual onanism. You CANNOT outlaw human ingenuity (well, apparently YOU can, since you are devoid of ingenuity, intellect, or education). 70-80% of US “gun deaths” are suicides, you witless ass . . . and, yet, Japan, with “civilized” gun laws, according to you, has nearly double the suicide rate of the US. You remain too stupid to insult, too inane to parody, and too much fun to mock.

  12. Dang. Japan just needs to ban home made guns and that problem is solved …….. well that is what Biden/Harris/Schumer and the puppet would say.

      • That kid threw away his future to help Asanuma become a good Communist.

        Otoya Yamaguchi (山口 二矢, Yamaguchi Otoya, 22 February 1943 – 2 November 1960) was a Japanese right-wing ultranationalist youth who assassinated Inejirō Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, on 12 October 1960. Yamaguchi rushed the stage and stabbed Asanuma with a wakizashi short sword while Asanuma was participating in a televised election debate at Hibiya Public Hall in Tokyo. Yamaguchi, who was 17 years of age at the time, had been a member of Bin Akao’s far-right Greater Japan Patriotic Party, but had resigned earlier that year. After being arrested and interrogated, Yamaguchi committed suicide while in a detention facility.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tokyo_Stabbing.jpg

  15. quote————Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of an attack that shocked many in Japan, which is one of the world’s safest nations and has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere————quote

    And now the Far Right will be dancing in the blood of the victim screaming “Look gun control failed in one extremely isolated and rare instance so let’s do away with all gun control laws”. This makes about as much sense as when the Far Right scream that if one person dies of covid that was vaccinated we should therefore throw all vaccines away.

    • Dacian quote-And now the Far Right will be dancing in the blood of the victim screaming “Look gun control failed in one extremely isolated and rare instance so let’s do away with all gun control laws”.

      Almost how the Left dance on the graves of victims screaming for more gun control?

      The pendulum swings both ways friend.

      • To Forp

        The history of gun control in Japan and other countries proved that the thousands of U.S. dead from mass murder would still be alive today if we had their gun control laws. Now let us see you attempt lie your way out of this historical fact.

        When was the last time Japan had a mass murder by assault rifle fire or for that matter Britain either. I could name other countries as well but you would ignore History with the wave of your hand.

        Give up while you are ahead Forp, you are out of your league.

        • You are right Dacian, I am out of my league. We are all out of our league. We should all lay down our weapons and give our money to the government because they know what is best. This would be a perfect scenario for you.

          Also, if you would go back and read my comment, I said the left likes to jump up and call for more gun control before bodies are cold, I never said anything about gun crime statistics.

          Stop thinking that you’re better than anyone of us. The left does this all the time, looking down their noses as if they think they have the moral high ground. It’s no way to convince people and it’s no way to make friends. Do you think you’re going to convince other people to join your side by calling people idiots and racists? You should know this if you’re so smart!

          So yes you’re right Dacian, I’m out of my league when I’m talking to you. I’m proud to be in a different league when conversing with you. I wear it as a badge of honor.

        • Not even close to the count for abortions, of course…but I like population control…so am pro-choice as well as pro 2A…
          60M is the USA estimate since 1970 or so…and that does not include the tens of millions that might have been spawned by those aborted…and their potential kids…and THEIR kids…so like 100M+
          meh…whatever

        • Who needs guns when you are proficient with knives, poison gas and fucking fire! Japan population average about 100 million (currently >126 million)…

          State of Japan (1952–present)
          30 August 1974 Mitsubishi bombing Tokyo East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front 8 dead 376 injured
          27–28 June 1994 Matsumoto incident Matsumoto Aum Shinrikyo 8 dead 500+ injured
          20 March 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack Tokyo Aum Shinrikyo 13 dead 6,252 injured
          25 July 1998 Wakayama arsenic poison case Sonobe district of Wakayama, Wakayama Masumi Hayashi 4 dead 64 injured
          29 September 1999 Shimonoseki Station massacre Shimonoseki Yasuaki Uwabe 5 dead 10 injured
          8 June 2001 Osaka school massacre Ikeda Mamoru Takuma 8 dead 15 injured
          1 September 2001 Myojo 56 building fire Shinjuku Unknown 44 dead Perpetrator never caught.
          8 June 2008 Akihabara massacre Chiyoda Tomohiro Katō 7 dead 10 injured
          1 October 2008 Osaka movie theater fire Osaka Kazuhiro Ogawa 16 dead
          21–22 July 2013 Yamaguchi arson and murders Mitake Kosei Homi 5 dead
          26 July 2016 Sagamihara stabbings Sagamihara Satoshi Uematsu 19 dead 26 injured
          6 October 2017 Komatsu family murder Ibaraki Hirobumi Komatsu 6 dead Hirobumi Komatsu killed his wife and five children by stabbing, he then set the bodies on fire.
          28 May 2019 Kawasaki stabbings Tama ward of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Ryuichi Iwasaki 3 dead 18 injured
          18 July 2019 Kyoto Animation arson attack Kyoto Shinji Aoba 36 33 injured
          17 December 2021 Osaka building fire Osaka Morio Tanimoto (suspect) 25 dead 3 injured, including suspect; arson suspected
          OBTW: When was the last time the US had a POTUS murdered by a homemade handgun? Japan is not a place to be a politician.

          In 1921, Takashi Hara, who established Japan’s full-fledged party Cabinet system and was known as the first commoner to become the prime minister, was stabbed to death at Tokyo Station by a young railway worker. Nine years later, Prime Minister Osachi Hamaguchi was attacked by a gunman at Tokyo Station and died of his wounds the following year.
          In 1932, a group of armed naval officers stormed the Prime Minister’s Office and shot premier Tsuyoshi Inukai, killing him, in what is now known as the “May 15 incident.”
          ABE’S OWN GRANDFATHER, Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, was stabbed in the thigh in 1960 and severely injured during a reception at the Prime Minister’s Office. That same year, Inejiro Asanuma, then head of the Japan Socialist Party, was fatally stabbed by a 17-year-old rightist while making a speech at a public hall in Hibiya, Tokyo.
          In the years that followed, Prime Minister Takeo Miki, Deputy Prime Minister Shin Kanemaru and Prime Minister Morihiro Hokosawa were either attacked or shot in 1975, 1992 and 1994, respectively. They all survived the attacks.
          Local-level politicians have also been attacked.
          In 1990 — two years after commenting on Emperor Hirohito’s responsibility in World War II — Nagasaki Mayor Hitoshi Motoshima was shot by a senior member of a rightist group.
          Yukio Aoshima received a parcel bomb during his time as Tokyo’s governor in 1995. Aoshima was unharmed, but an official of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government was seriously injured.
          More recently, Nagasaki Mayor Itcho Ito was campaigning in 2007 when he was shot and killed by a senior member of a crime organization.

        • to Madman

          Notice the that the crimes you mentioned in Japan are often separated by years not days as happens in the U.S.

        • And of course, dacian, the point goes straight over your head.. yet you call others Jethros and Hillbillys

  16. One additional point that suggests political assassination is that Abe was a big advocate for rearming Japan. East Asia is getting to be a powder keg over CCP designs on Taiwan. The CCP would like to see Japan as unarmed and neutral as possible.

  17. Japan is like the wild west. They even allow shurikens, unlike civilized places like New York and California.

  19. I believe what I’ve learned from this is if your going to be in politics dont have the name Abe.
    .
    theBiden should ban asaulty riffles before the Japanese get out of hand with their homemade gunms.
    Somthing must be done Pedodent Biden.

    • I would add that if you’re a politician named Abe don’t piss off the Democrat/KKK party, it could get real ugly.

    • You mean a limited response in retaliation that got somewhat “out of hand”?
      By the way, I have a Browning designed FN1910 like the one used by Princip…. I’m gonna see what I can put together out of my junk metal boxes inthe back garage to make a replica of this ” gun”.

  21. A $100 set of Level IIIa soft body armor and this man would still be alive. I also noticed his guards were not wearing armor either. We need to behave in accordance with the world we live in, not the world as we wish it was. This is a lesson to everyone, that you and you alone are responsible for you safety. Rest in Peace Mr. Abe.

    • Abe was shot in the neck. Like the Archduke, if he wore armor or not is irrelevant.

      • He was shot in the chest and the neck. From the video, I assume multiple projectiles (shotgun), as it appears that the first shot missed, striking another individual, after which Abe turns and is hit by the second shot. Also, as it was reported that he was initially conscious and talking, and that there was only a small amount of blood on his shirt, plus reports of massive transfusions at the medical facility, that the chest wound caused him to bleed out internally.

  22. Guess we should have strict control and back ground checks for anyone going to the hardware store now. And we must ban metal pipe and the basic components of home made gunpowder. Restrict access to batteries and duct tape. Confiscate all ball bearings or other items that could become improvised projectiles. Panic and run!! The world is ending and doom is at hand!!!
    Oh the terror caused by non-serialized home built guns!!!We must shut down the internet and close libraries because they may have information on how to make gunpowder or how to make a zip gun etc. Declare war on violence and appoint a CZAR to oversee the effort.

    Did I cover everything? Oh yeah, I forgot. Blame the law abiding gun owners and demonize “ASSAULT WEAPONS” We must disarm the general public and blame the middle aged white guys. There, that should cover all the issues.

    • Ball bearings? Ha! I checked Amazon Japan last night and I could have ordered multiple different options for lead sphere “weights”.

  23. That’s unpossible.

    I have it on very good authority that America is the only place in the world where this sort of thing happens.

  27. This was an act of terrorism and by determined assassination attempots are exceptionally hard to ,prevent. This is anyway an example of even stricter conditions of gun control not less. In most countries such a high profile person, and that includes the UK by the way, would be closely guarded by highly trained professionals.

    • “Highly trained professionals” – like YOU, Albert the Subject???

      Anyone with an above-submoron IQ would be aware that it is impossible to outlaw either human ingenuity, or precursor parts, so “homebuilt” weapons will ALWAYS be available to those who aren’t submorons (unlike you). Your laughable claims to relevant knowledge in respect of firearms is greeted with the derision it deserves. Sod off, swampy.

  28. Biden just blamed it on Ronald Trump. Then Karine Jean-Pierre walked back the remark, admitting that Biden certainly knows that Ronald Trump is dead and meant to blame Donald Reagan.

  29. It seems to me that this guy used a BLACK POWDER home made twin of more barrelled PIPE GUN because of the smoke and probably electrically or using a 12 Gauge cartridge . BUT one has to wonder why he was allowed to get so close to such a cointraversial figure. The fact is that this was a serious lapse of obvious security. Nobody could possibly stop a person making a BLACK POWDER piper- I could make one in a couple of hours if I really tried and the materials are easily enough accessed.

  30. To those more knowledgeable POTG.

    Based on the leather holster of the security person in the photos up-thread, what do you think he was carrying?

    • I don’t know about now. But some years back Japan had a factory, I believe it was a .gov arsenal, that was in charge of making guns for the police and private security contractors. It looked like a 3 inch barreled Colt dick special. .38.

    • My friends in the Tokyo and Osaka police departments told me (years ago, when I was in Japan for kendo training) that they carried .38 Special revolvers.

      The New Nambu M60 was the standard issue at that time:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Nambu_M60

      The M60 went out of production years ago, but apparently they are still commonly in use (they are hardly ever fired, so if properly maintained they’ll last for decades). S&W Model 37’s are apparently the current choice for new service sidearms.

      While the police do carry sidearms, for all practical purposes they are ornamental (for beat cops, they are typically carried in a holster with a lanyard attached to the grip). Virtually no one in the police will ever have shot any kind of handgun before entering the academy, and followup training / practice is limited. The vast majority of cops in Japan have never done anything other than basic square range shooting.

      However, almost all of them I met practiced kendo and/or judo regularly, and all are trained in taiho-jutsu (arrest and immobilization techniques). Most of them are in far better physical condition than most US LEO’s (I have never seen an obese Japanese cop). Culturally, being a policeman in Japan is considered to be a very honorable occupation.

  34. Biden said this was the first time a Japanese figure was assassinated. Actually, Wikipedia lists 23 Japanese Politicians who were assassinated. That is more than the number of US politicians who have been assassinated.

  35. Dacian,
    You need professional help, maybe an exorcist.

    Mask are cultural. Japanese / Asian cultures tend to lean collectivist due to historical events / reasons. Just a people adapting to their environment, no value judgement needed to explain this.

    The shooter planned this out waaaaay in advance. Thanks to our friends in The ( nominally) United Kingdom l managed to glean some things about the construction of the firearm. This based on pictures of the different angles of the weapon.

    Here they are in no particular order of importance or reason.

    The gun was over engineered. Look at the thickness of the pipe used and the type/amount of batteries to power the ignition system. Also based on the gauge of the wires and the amount of tape.

    I suspect the “frame” is carbon / polyfiber reinforced and molded to his hand.

    This person researched and tested his design with success in mind. He would have most likely overlooked an important element unless he had access to experts.

    I don’t think China is shedding any tears over this one. So far no proof they were involved.

    Does anyone know who/what Abe was campaigning for?

    Also a side note I suspect quite a few US politicians died under suspicious circumstances that were not investigated as thoroughly as one would expect.

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