Police said Sunday that a man who was cleaning his mother's house in Nara on Saturday afternoon, accidentally fired an old military-issue automatic handgun when he picked it up.
The resident of the home was hospitalized at the time, and the only occupants, the man and his wife, were uninjured. The woman's husband, who passed away 18 years ago, was a member of the Imperial Japanese Army, and police say he likely kept the gun after the end of the war.
© News reports
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my2sense
Wonder how many people the damn thing and its owner actually killed. This makes news.... and thats what makes Japan so safe.
smithinjapan
So it was kept loaded all that time? Or did the couple accidentally put in a clip before accidentally pulling the trigger?
MistWizard
I don't think the word "kept" is appropriate to your question. It implies and intent in a progressive intent and the dead IJA can't do that since he is dead. I think what you want to ask is if he left it that way, and that seems pretty likely.
proudnippon
I don't think 'likely' is entirely appropriate. It implies a level of probability we simply can't predict. I think what you want to say is 'possible'
vulcan
Good excuse for govt to ban all antique guns or anything with a barrel, maybe even all soft pellet bb guns.
some14some
something 'fishy' should be in Crime Section.
borscht
An automatic, eh? As in pull the trigger once and spray the area with bullets? Not a nice 'antique' to keep around; especially loaded.
smithinjapan
MistWizard: "I don't think the word "kept" is appropriate to your question. It implies and intent in a progressive intent and the dead IJA can't do that since he is dead. I think what you want to ask is if he left it that way, and that seems pretty likely."
Your pushing the semantics, but if you must then I am game. Yes, I think 'kept' is apt, since in most nations, and I'm assuming in Japan as well given the sword/firearms control law, bullets must be removed from weapons (even spoils of war) and firing pins taken out. Since the man didn't do so after the war, when he took the weapon home, then you could argue it was 'kept' that way. And since the gun was not thrown out (errr... since we're being nitpicky, 'properly disposed of'), but instead KEPT, then I believe it's still okay. Sure, it wasn't given milk in a saucer or some tender vittles, but hey. Of course, you could also say 'left that way'.
borscht: "An automatic, eh? As in pull the trigger once and spray the area with bullets? Not a nice 'antique' to keep around; especially loaded."
You're confusing (semi) automatic and FULLY automatic. I believe most pistols are considered automatics, as you do not need to recock them before firing, as you did old rifles.
bicultural
Yeah, I'm sure he "accidentally" put his finger on the trigger. Probably picked it up out of curiosity and aimed it at the wall or something.
alladin
How can a gun automatically go off by itself? I bet the owner of the gun probably was playing with it at the time and when he was playing with it, he suddenly fired it not knowing that it was loaded. I bet Japan has so many guns like this hidden in the houses of old imperial warriors of Japan and hidden from the media.
MistWizard
sigh, I was just trying to ascertain your meaning. Sorry, I did not know I was dealing with a reactionary contrarian.
I think the odds are they did not even know about the gun, so it was stuffed somewhere in the house and forgotten about (went off while cleaning house). My humblest apologies if the word "kept" has several connotations and I can only guess if you intend them or not. (eyeroll)
YuriOtani
Easy an "automatic" pistol is one that uses a clip to hold ammo and the firing process expels the empty and puts a new one in the firing chamber. This is in contrast to a revolver which has a round clip that revolves when fired. So she had a november delta with the weapon. Interesting, my guess is had it for home protection and made a mistake. Pity the JP now have it.
ca1ic0cat
Guns don't usually go off "accidentally" so the fool is lucky he wasn't looking down the barrel when he pulled the trigger.
"Automatic," when referring to a pistol, usually means a semi-automatic in function. One shot for one trigger pull, with the action automatically chambering a new round. There were very few fully automatic (fires as long as the trigger is held back or until the ammo is depleted) pistols made.
Lucky nobody was hurt.
glycol57
With all the police and military films and TV dramas availible over the last 50 years ... you'd think even the most average of the average people would understand a few things about firearms - and which bits NOT to pull until you're sure about whether there's a live round in the thing.
nandakandamanda
The laws are so strict here that most people have never seen a real gun and would assume that it was some kind of model, and wouldn't know how to check if it was loaded even if they thought it was real.
These 'most' people would also be naturally curious, and pulling the tigger as seen on TV would have to be a very strong temptation. The son must have moved the safety catch, though...
'Bang'... ooops...
and the rest is history.
Kevbodian
The dude, probably never having seen a gun, probably picked it up, aimed it and tried firing it. Obviously it made a big sound and probably scared him into calling the authorities... after he used it. Then to not receive any sort of blame he used the "I barely touched it" excuse.