Guns in Japan
Posted by Matt Dioguardi on April 24th, 2007
I don’t want to keep going on about the topic of guns, but stumbled aross the following facts this morning:
- It is estimated that there are 50,000 illegal guns in Japan.
- All guns are held by crime-syndicates. (Yakuza)
- While the number of guns is increasing, the number confiscated by police is decreasing. In 2006, the number was 458. In 1995, the number was 1880.
- It is getting harder to find guns, many gangs now strictly prohibit their members from talking with investigators.
- The above took place after the introduction of a 1992 anti-ganster law. According to the law, police can crack down on organized crime syndicates when the percentage of their members with criminal records surpasses a specified amount. (So, so long as the gang is mostly clean, you can’t crack down on them.)
- In 1993 gun possession became a serious crime. Since then crime syndicates use those without obvious associations with their syndicates to hold their guns.
- A Smith & Wesson is typically sold for about 700,000 yen with five to 10 bullets.
- Yamaguchi-gumi has been selling more guns as an attempt to increase revenue. This created a conflict with Sumiyoshi-kai, based in Tokyo. Now, all Sumiyoshi-kai are required to carry a gun.
- The Yamaguchi-gumi has 39,700 members and accounts for half of Japan’s gangster population.
All of these facts are from the following article:
Illegal guns flourish, say befuddled police
April 25th, 2007 at 4:13 am
One particular aspect of Japanese society/culture that I find so interesting is the relationship between the Yakuza and the authorities.
For example, the “police can crack down on organized crime syndicates when the percentage of their members with criminal records surpasses a specified amount.”
Does that mean that in terms of gangs, members aren’t simply guilty by association?
What about the fact that “gangs now strictly prohibit their members from talking with investigators.”
Can’t the police just bring in the gang member for questioning, and “get” their information?
Regards,