TOKYO — Japan was left reeling Friday by the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a stunning act of political violence in a country where gun laws are stringent and shootings are rare.
Abe was shot in the back while giving a speech at a campaign rally in the western city of Nara and was pronounced dead hours later, prompting a national outpouring of shock and grief.
It was the first assassination of a former or incumbent prime minister in Japan in 90 years.
believed we were in a country where assassinations would never happen. I feel so sorry for Mr. Abe. I am in shock," Emiko Shiono, a 76-year-old Tokyo resident, told NBC News. "He was someone who contributed to the nation."
The same sentiments were shared by those who did not necessarily agree with the conservative politician’s legacy.
“There are a lot of pros and cons [about Abe], but what happened should never have happened,” Tomoko Tanaka, 50, said Friday as she was walking with her grandchild in central Tokyo.
Video of Abe’s speech showed a puff of white smoke appear behind him along with two loud cannon-like blasts. Video and photos show what appears to be an improvised weapon lying on the ground in the aftermath.
Police said Friday that they believe the attack was carried out with a homemade gun and later found several other weapons that appeared to be homemade at the suspect’s residence. It is unclear whether the suspect has proper licenses for the weapons.
Japan’s gun laws are among the strictest in the world, helping to make it one of the world’s safest countries. Handguns are banned and people must undergo extensive tests, training, background and mental health checks to obtain and keep shotguns or air rifles.
Only nine people died by guns in the country in 2018, eight of which were considered suicides or accidents, according to the World Health Organization. In 2021 there were just 10 shooting incidents, according to police datathat excludes suicides or accidents. It said one person was killed and four people wounded. Japan has some of the strictest gun laws in the world and has a long history of such — it was the first country in the world to instigate a form of gun law via a reward scheme for information leading to the capturing of illicit guns in the 17th century,” said Overton.