TOKYO – It is said that if you banned guns, you will only have banned guns – but this is not true in Japan, which is one of the strictest laws on the books that bans possession of guns, and imposes even harsher fines for use thereof. If you fire a gun at someone here, you’ll probably be in jail for over 20 years. The severe punishments even stop the yakuza, the syndicate of organized crime in Japan, from using firearms. In 2017, only three people were killed by gunfire across the country.
But people will always find ways to kill each other, and as it turns out, lawless forbidden weapons in Japan will use other deadly weapons – such as crossbows.
Thwack.
The Japanese government is considering banning most people from buying, selling or owning this semi-automatic bow and arrow. Following a series of heinous crimes using the weapons, there are currently revisions to Japan’s laws restricting their use to sporting and sedative animals. The new revisions are expected to be adopted in the current session of parliament.
The new laws will be retroactive, so the perpetrators out there who plan with their handy crossbows will have to hand it over to the authorities, or get a permit or the jail sentence will have to be imposed. If you were going to be a real (murder) green arrow, think twice. The fines for using it as a weapon are likely to be severe. However, if you use a crossbow for a legitimate purpose – such as crossbow shooting – you may keep it, as you get a permit.
There have been several murderous killings over the past decade that have given the impetus to curb the handling of these potential weapons. According to the Japanese National Police Agency, there have been 32 cases of crossbows used in crime in the past ten years, with six people killed and 11 injured.
Of these murders, the most horrific was a family death that left three people dead and one person in a critical condition.
Last summer, Hideaki Nozu, a 23-year-old man living in Takarazuka City in western Japan, allegedly bought a crossbow and used it to shoot his entire family. According to reports in Sankei Newspaper and other Japanese media, he went on a rampage in a murderous manner on the morning of June 4, shooting his younger brother twice in the bathroom, his mother in the living room and his 75-year-old grandmother in her bedroom. .
Each shot was fired at the head and pierced the skull. Later that day, he called his aunt to the house. When she got there and opened the door, he shot her in the neck at the entrance. She ran out of the house with the arrow still in her neck and called for help. After successfully removing one of the arrows, his younger brother was still breathing when police arrived, but died in a hospital seven hours later.
During a period of self-imposed isolation and possible mental illness, Nozu allegedly blamed his family for all his problems, including the fact that he had to leave university because he could not pay for tuition. He was charged with murder and attempted murder and allegedly told police that he – with the intent to kill his entire family – had already practiced with the crossbow several times at home before implementing his plan.
The murder of the crossbow has unleashed a barrage of copy-cat crimes. One incident, which occurred on July 26, prompted Hyogo Prefecture to make an ordinance restricting the sales and ownership of crossbows. It relates to an unemployed housewife who shot her husband with a crossbow while he was sleeping. Luckily for the man, the arrow just grazed his head and he woke up before his wife could finish the job by trying to cut his throat with a kitchen knife. The crossbow bearer told police investigators that she became increasingly irritated after losing her job and being trapped at home due to the pandemic. She heard about the murders committed in June of that month, and decided to purchase her own crossbow to use for her husband.
The following month, there was another incident: a 28-year-old unemployed woman used a crossbow to shoot an elderly social worker and stab him through his right arm. Fortunately, he was alive, and the attacker was arrested for attempted murder.
Under pending laws, crossbows – commonly referred to in Japan as ‘bow cannons’ or ‘Western bows and arrows’, although officially called crossbows in parliament, will be strictly defined as a bow that uses a locking mechanism. to hold the rope after it has been pulled, and can release an arrow with enough force to harm a living person.
Nine months after the anti-crossbow bill became law, citizens wishing to seize the weapons must get permission from the local public safety commission and keep the bows locked when not in use. Crossbow use is only allowed on shooting ranges and other special places. Former prisoners, drug addicts and persons under the age of 18 who have been released may not possess crossbows.
Illegal possession of a crossbow can be punished with a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to 500,000 yen (approximately $ 5,000). Restrictions on buying and selling crossbows are being tightened as the bill is about to be finalized, but crossbow dealers who do not conduct proper background checks or do not confirm whether the buyer is licensed will face up to six months in prison or a fine of up to $ 2,000.
If there was a National Crossbow Association in Japan, they would smoke. The Daily Beast did ask the National Bowgun Shooting Association to comment on the pending law, but at press time they did not respond.