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3D-Printed Gun Earns Man Two Years In Japanese Prison

Posted by Soulskill on from the forgot-to-read-the-fine-3d-print dept.

jfruh writes: Japan has some of the strictest anti-gun laws in the world, and the authorities there aim to make sure new technologies don't open any loopholes. 28-year-old engineer Yoshitomo Imura has been sentenced to two years in jail after making guns with a 3D printer in his home in Kawasaki.

9 of 331 comments (clear)

  1. Good, it should be that way! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    After all, we need a government-mandated monopoly on violence.

    How else could the Yakuza do their business? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y... I mean, they're considered a semi-legitimate business in Japan, and are armed to the teeth. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ne...

    Of course, they also lie about their crime rates to hide corruption to bolster promotions within their police force (source: Freakonomics, the movie).

    Gun control works people! You have a whole country who is paralyzed with fear of the organized crime syndicates that own them!

    Just as it should be :-D

  2. In Japan by Giant+Robot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    In addition to very strict gun laws (pretty much the only guys with hunting licenses got them > 50 years ago), there are other laws which are a lot more strict compared to other countries.

    For example, if a gaijin resident is caught with light marijuana -> Jail time or deportation. Drinking and driving, even one beer, will cause one to lose his job in a country that prides itself of life long employment.

    1. Re:In Japan by Kagetsuki · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually depending on the area you can still get hunting licenses - the thing is there is a limit and family and friends of existing hunters usually get preference. One of my employees happens to be the son of a hunter in Nagano and he's got a license. When he goes home during winter holiday he'll often bring us back some boar or deer meat. Having grown up for part of my life in Colorado the deer meat is especially appreciated, and boar meat goes great in a winter nabe.

      That said, even with a license they have extreme limits on what kinds of guns and how much ammo they can have. Ammo needs to have serial numbers and can only be purchased at very specfic places - and the prices are outrageous. The yearly license fees on the guns are apprently pretty expensive too.

    2. Re:In Japan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Drinking and driving, even one beer, will cause one to lose his job in a country that prides itself of life long employment.

      Uh, no. I lived there from 97-99 and I promise you that is not true at all. In fact, a manager at the english school/business that I worked for got a DWI and was embarrassed, had "points" put on her license.... and NOTHING ELSE. She kept working. Please don't make up stories about "one beer fired for life!" YES they have roadblocks and check for DWI but the limits aren't as strict as you make them out to be. My wife was driving once after a few drinks when we went through a roadblock (turned the corner, there it was, no way around it). Blew into this baton thingy..... "thanks, you folks have a nice night".... (She wasn't fired)

      To the case in point; gun laws have helped keep gun deaths to a minimum but that may also be part of an unspoken agreement between government and Yakuza. As long as street crime is taken care of blind eyes will be turned to gambling and prostitution rings. The only gun deaths are Yakuza shooting Yakuza. While this is a bit of a generalization, it's not much of one.

      HOWEVER, it is the Japanese ideal of society that makes their country so safe in terms of physical crime. They are raised with such strong views of courtesy and manners that it is hard to overstate. The idea that you would cause trouble for those around you is horrifying for many (not all) Japanese. And yes... round eyes have much stricter penalties, that is very, very true. If you are trying to become a citizen you can't have so much as one parking ticket in 10 years of residency if you wish to even think about applying for citizenship... or you have to be an athlete, entertainment star, or sumo champ....

    3. Re:In Japan by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A guy has a few beers and hits a pedestrian, and the police call it the results of DUI, yet sober people hit pedestrians all the time. Low levels of alcohol do not increase your chances much of causing an accident; they do more to decrease your chances of avoiding one, i.e. reacting adequately to an unusual situation. Not that I'm advocating drinking and driving here, but saying that even 1 drink is bad is silly. Our bureau for traffic safety stated (against popular political opinion, surprisingly) that lowering the current limit of 0.05 BAC (2 drinks or so) would do very little to directly reduce the accident rates. A lower legal limit may help in an indirect way, by emphasizing the negative effects of alcohol on driving abilities, and the idea that it's easier to say no to the first drink than it is to the third. (Which is why the legal limit for young drivers was in fact lowered to 0.02).

      Oddly, Magic Mushrooms are legal in Japan...but for "appreciation purposes" only. So you can buy them but you're only supposed to look at them, I suppose.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  3. Re:That's the way the gyoza goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Having just spent two weeks in Japan earlier this month, I noticed that airsoft guns are freely available in department stores. Here in my home country of Australia, such items are prohibited.

  4. Re:gun laws by quenda · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Japans draconian gun laws are not the reason for its low violent crime rate. They have a very low murder rate generally, and don't need such heavy penalties.

    The US however does have a serious violent crime problem.
    But not all the US: places such as New England, Iowa, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wyoming, Utah all have homicide rates not so much worse than Europe and Australia.
    ( Restricting handguns could well reduce the gap.)
    What do all these states have in common? Similar racial mix. There is only one state with both a large racial minority and a low murder rate: Hawaii.
    Importantly, the white-only homicide rate in the US overall is still much higher than the total homicide rate in the above states, so the cause is not simple.
    People in those states have a lower murder rate regardless of race.

    You cannot possibly understand the US murder rate without looking at race and guns. The left do not want to talk about race, and the right don't want to talk about guns, so we're screwed.

  5. Re:Maybe it's time... by gwolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I cannot repeal laws in a country where I am not a citizen. But sadly, the USA blindness on this topic has impacted our lives.

    I am Mexican. Believe whatever you want, but during my lifetime, I have not seen a single firearm besides those in control of the security force (and a very old rifle used for hunting, ~25 years ago, in quite a rural setting).

    However, our territory is very vast and varied. And you have surely heard we do have violence problem. And you most likely heard about stupid "research" USA programs, such as "Fast and Furious", where guns were *knowingly to the USA authorities* smuggled out of the USA and into Mexico, to help "trace the paths"of the druglords.

    Our druglords buy uncontrolled firearms (both "regular" and high-power) in the USA, and use them here. So, yes, I do have basis for complaining on the status quo.

  6. Re:gun laws by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    See? This is egalitarianism carried to it's extreme. Looking at any racial factor is automatically racist.

    Fine, because I'm not 100% egalitarian (except that people ought to be treated the same in the eyes of the law), I'm a racist too. I believe in evolution, and I think that the evolution that made different races gave them more than different facial features and color. Gasp!

    Somehow it's not racist to recognize black people (Eastern Africans iirc) as faster runners or better at certain sports so much that they, even as a minority, in this country crowd out certain professional leagues, but we have to believe that evolution stopped just below the neckline.

    Black violence greatly outnumbers white violence. Black on white violence is much greater than the other way around (even with the FBI adding hispanics to that perpetrator number for some reason but splitting hispanics for the victims category). White on black rape is practically nil.

    What your parent post is on about is that people feel uncomfortable living in mixed communities. They withdraw from community life and become apathetic, even to their own race. This in turn raises overall crime rate. This has been studied and even results reported in the news.

    BTW, it turns out income correlates with IQ but different races have different IQ bellcurves. IQ is not socio-economic, because Native Indians have either equal or close to white IQ iirc, but tend to be much poorer (on the reservations).