From: Masaaki Ishida <[i--hi--a] at [fuchinobe.skk.slb.com]> Newsgroups: rec.guns Subject: Gun regulation in Japan (3rd ed.) Date: 4 Sep 1995 10:46:09 -0400 Hello. I'm a Japanese shooter in Tokyo. In August, I posted an article about gun ownership in Japan. Since National Police Agency published the annual white paper at the end of August, I mosidied/added some figures by the latest one, and post it as 3rd edition. Lines modified/added are marked by "|" at left side. ----- Since I got a question about gun ownership, I present this article. Sorry for my poor written English. I'm glad other people posts similar information about their nation's gun regulation. How to Own Guns in Japan (version 3, 4/Sep/95) ================================================== In Japan there are many people who believe that Japanese shooters at Olympics are policemen or soldiers of Self-Defense Force. Some other people believe that Japanese citizen cannot own guns and people who enjoy shooting have to rent guns at shooting range, and some other people believes that legal gun owners must keep guns in lockers assigned for them at shooting ranges. So, I decided to write short introductory article about gun ownership in Japan. In Japan, the kind of guns owned by civilian are as follows. Air Rifle Hand Rifle Rifle Air Pistol (limited to 500 people for sports shooting only) Pistol (limited to 50 people for sport shooting only) Shotgun The purpose to own guns is limited to two, i.e., hunting or sports shooting. It means we cannot own guns for defense purpose. The procedure to own the gun is as follows. Of course, people who use guns in their work (policemen, soldiers, etc.) don't have to follow the following step for guns used in the job. The terminology about 'air gun', 'air rifle' follow Japanese custom. Participation in a lecture at nearby police station ------------------------------------------------------ This is a requisite condition for anyone who tries to own gun. You go to the police station which is responsible for your address area, and apply for the lecture on gun regulation for beginners. In case of Tokyo, entire districts are divided into four blocks, and the actual place to have the lecture is one police station in the block. The lecture for beginner is held once in a month, I think. The lecture starts at 9:00 in Saturday morning, and written examination follows after lunch. To 20 questions, you have to give at least 14 correct answers. When I had this lecture, two or three people did not pass among 32 or 33 attendance. This performance was high because usually 80 % of attendants pass the examination. After passing the examination, a certificate is given and its copy must be submitted whenever you do some application afterwards. The certificate is valid three years. It means, after the valid date of the certification, you have to attend a lecture for gun owners to get the new certificate. This time, no examination is done. Air rifle, hand rifle, and shotgun ------------------------------------ Once you get the certificate of the gun regulation lecture, there are two different paths depending on what you want to own. Note that you cannot apply for usual rifles nor pistols at this stage. To own them, you need further qualification. A. Air rifle or hand rifle. People who are not familiar with gun confuses air rifle from 'air soft gun' (or simply 'air gun') which uses plastic bullet and whose barrel does not have rifling. In fact, recently it was reported on TV that some members of AUM camped near by Mt. Fuji and did some military training using 'air rifle' of AK 47. This report was not correct. What they used must be air soft gun shaped like AK 47 or model gun of AK 47. Hand rifle is unique to Japan. It is actually air pistol, but long sleeve covers the barrel, and long stock is attached to the grip. In Japan, ownership of pistol (air or not) is restricted because of their small size which enables covered transportation. Therefore, hand rifle was introduced for people who plan to own air hand gun eventually. If you want to own air rifle or hand rifle, you can go to a gun shop with certificate to show to clerks, determine which gun to buy, ask clerks to write a paper which describe the detail of the gun, and name of the shop. When you buy a gun not from a shop but from a current owner, the same paper is needed. You must be at least 18 years old, or, you need to be over 14 years old and have recommendatory letter from an organization which governs all official sports organizations. B. Shotgun. Prior to go to gun shop, you have to take practical shooting course, followed by examination. To apply for it, you have to submit a lot of papers to the police, and it takes a few months until you get the approval because you and your family who live together are examined. After the approval, you have the course at a shooting range and pass it (it is quite easy). Then, you go to a gun shop, determine the gun to buy, and ask clerks to write the paper. You must be at least 20 years old, or, you need to be over 18 years old and have recommendatory letter from an organization which governs all official sports organizations. After applying for any gun, usually it takes about one month until you get permission. When you get notification from the police about permission, you go to the police station to receive license booklet, take it to the gun shop and receive the gun. Then within two weeks, you have to go to the police station again with the gun to have it inspected and stumped on the license. SB - Small Bore rifle (0.22 caliber, rim-fire) ------------------------------------------------ Since using of 0.22 caliber rifle (both rim-fire and center-fire) for hunting is prohibited in Japan (probably small animals suitable as targets of 0.22 caliber live not far from where people live), the only permitted purpose to own it is for rifle shooting sports. The step to own Small Bore (rim-fire) rifle is as follows. A. Become a member of a branch of National Rifle Association of Japan, then become a member of N.R.A.J. itself. I my case, I became a member of Setagaya (one district in Tokyo) area at first, which means automatic membership of Tokyo branch of N.R.A.J, then had to wait one year until I was allowed become a member of N.R.A.J it self. But this term differs with branches. If you want to just enjoy air rifle, and have no interest in participating in national wide shooting meet, to stay just as Tokyo branch's member saves membership fee. B. Participate in a few hour's lecture by N.R.A.J., and get certification. C. Participate in at least two shooting meet per year before you apply for SB. D. Get certification of skill of shooting. In case of shooting in Standing position, the score of criteria is 300 for S60, and 200 for S40. It is quite easy. E. By satisfying above A,B,C,D, then you can apply for SB to N.R.A.J. What you get if you pass the examination is recommendatory letter that you are suitable for shooter of N.R.A.J., and have potential to become a shooter for higher level competitions like Olympic. F. Submit above letter as well as many other papers to the police station. Like the case of shotgun, it takes a new months until the police issues a permission to take shooting course in practice. G. Take a practical shooting course at a shooting range, and get a certification. H. Apply for a gun to buy. LB - Large Bore rifles (center-fire) -------------------------------------- There are two purposes you can use LB, one is sports shooting under control of N.R.A.J., and the other is hunting. A. For rifle shooting as sports, the requisite to apply for it are as follows. a. It is over one year since you have owned a SB. b. You have already participated in 2 shooting meet per year with SB. You apply for recommendatory letter to N.R.A.J., and follow the similar steps (without practice course in a shooting range) as SB. It looks only bolt action rifles can be allowed. B. For hunting purpose, you must have continuous 10 years' history to have own shotgun or SB. You simply apply for a gun to the police station. Air pistol ------------ The requisite condition to apply for air pistol is almost the same as SB except that certification of more skill in shooting is required (in case of AR S60, score of over 510). Since the number of owners of air pistol is limited up to 500, you usually wait one year or more (it means you wait someone fails to update the license) until you get recommendatory letter. After getting recommendatory letter from N.R.A.J, follow the same procedure as other kinds of guns to apply for the license. Pistol -------- To apply for pistol, you need quite excellent skill of air pistol (in case of AP60, score of over 555) to apply for pistol. This time, the number of people is limited to 50, but because of so hard criteria, I heard two years ago that only 30 people owned it. Permission for ammunition --------------------------- Anybody can buy bullets for air rifle, hand rifle, and air pistol without restraint. For ammunition which contains powder, you have to get another paper from the police. On the permission paper, based on which kind of guns you have, the kind of ammunition gun shops can sell to the owner of guns are listed as well as total maximum amount. This paper is valid for one year, and, if my memory is correct, the maximum number of ammunition the police allow to a paper is 4,000. Because of the law, the maximum number of ammunition you can keep at home is limited to 800, and you must keep them in a specially designed locker which is different from gun locker. Updating the license ---------------------- The license of gun is a booklet like passport. Your name, photograph, address, birth date, license booklet No. and its issue date, etc. are in the first page. Then pages for up to 12 guns follow (so, if you own more than 12 guns, you have several license booklets). In the last page, there is a holder to insert the permission paper to buy ammunition. The license for each gun is valid three years (more correctly, until the third birthday after you get the license). It means, if you have three guns which you owned in three continuous years, you have to update the license of different gun every year. If you have three guns owned in the same year or owned in interval of multiple of three years, you can update them in the same year. Here, 'year' means not calendar year, but a interval between two birthdays of the owner, i.e., if you buy two guns, one a day before the birthday and the other one day after the birth day, their licenses are updated in the different years. To keep the license, following things must be cleared. A. Requisite to update license. There's no condition to update the license of air rifle, hand rifle, and shotgun. But if you have not used them in the past three years, license can not be updated. To update the license of SB and LB, you have to show stump you got at rifle shooting meets. Though one of conditions that N.R.A.J. issues recommendatory letter for SB and LB is that owner should participates at least two formal shooting meets per year for EACH gun, in realty, it is not checked by the police strictly. To update license of air-pistol or pistol, it is strictly examined whether you participated in enough number of shooting meets, and score at them were enough to qualify the ownership. B. Annual gun inspection. Usually in spring, there's a day of annual gun inspection (the date differs with police stations). You bring not only all guns but also a paper to report the number of times you used gun (for practice, shooting meet, hunting) as well as the number of bullets you consumed. C. Certification of a lecture which is valid at the time of update. To update of the license, valid certificate of gun regulation lecture is necessary. It means you have to attend the lecture every three years. Others -------- A. There are many kinds of papers which you submit to the police at various opportunities. The following is a list of them (not all of them are needed every time). o Application for ownership o Application for license update o Application to buy ammunition o Paper to return expired paper to buy ammunition o Signed paper that gun shop or ex-owner agrees to sell a gun to you, which contains detailed description of the gun o List of your family who live with you o Abstract of your family register o Past 10 years' record of your address, job, crime, and guns you ever own o Doctor's certification that you are not a user of drugs, and satisfies some other physical conditions. o Certification of gun lecture (for beginners, or for owners) o Certification of practice course at a shooting range B. If you have some crime history, using knife or guns, you cannot apply for gun ownership for some amount of years. Also, if you live with dangerous people, like member of Yakuza, it may happen application is rejected. C. In Japan, most policemen are transferred every several years to avoid their adhesion with residents. In case of a policeman who is in charge of handling gun ownership, he is transferred every two years. D. Because only one policeman works for gun ownership in each police station, I experienced several times that he was absent for criminal investigation. What I do when I have some business about gun ownership is to call him in the morning to check his convenient time, then go to the police station. So, it is often necessary to take annual leave of a day or half just to submit papers. I hope some reformation about this inconvenience. | E. Figures about accidents by rifles and shotguns owned guns are as follows. | N.R.A.J is proud of its record of no accident at shooting meets. | Some of figures below are by illegally owned rifles or shotguns. '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 | --------------------------------------------------------------- | At hunting 33 36 34 31 37 | Shooting Ranges 0 0 1 2 2 | Other 25 18 22 19 20 | '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 | --------------------------------------------------------------- | Dead 28(21) 21(19) 26(17) 20(16) 21(14) | Injured 36 40 32 33 38 | * Numbers of dead people in () are those suicided, and included | in the total figure. | Figures about crime/shot of all guns (mostly pistols) | are shown in "K" below. | F. According to the white paper by the National Police Agency of Japan, | published in 1995, the number of legally owned guns are as follows. | Figures are for 1994. | Air rifles 34,746 | Rifles 35,599 | Shotguns 381,789 G. Guns must be kept in your house in a specially designed locker. One exception is pistol (not air pistol) which must be kept in a locker of the nearby police station. You must keep key of the locker in a secret place (your family should not know it), and even if policemen comes to your home for inspection, only owner should show guns. He can reject to show guns if policemen come without prior notification. It is to avoid an incident that guns are stolen by 'false police'. H. To do hunting, you need another license for it. Issuing of hunting license is under control of Governor of each prefecture. The first course for beginners is followed by written examination follows like that for gun ownership. License is valid for 3 years. I. When you apply for a gun, you specify its purpose (target shooting, or hunting). You cannot use a gun for hunting if its purpose in the gun's license is "target shooting". J. Two other Olympic sports, Biathlon and Modern Pentathlon, which uses SB and pistol respectively, are under administration of a united organization for them, and the process to permit gun ownership may be different from N.R.A.J. Also, Running Target, which uses moving target, is managed by the organization of clay shooting though the type of gun used is rifles. | K. Figures about gun crimes are as follows. | '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 | --------------------------------------------------------------- | # of arrested 200 155 176 130 159 | (173) (125) (140) (99) (117) | *171 *132 *151 *97 *131 | (165) (116) (133) (90) (113) | Dead 36 31 21 30 38 | * Figures in () are those by Bouryoku-dan (=violent organization) | * Figures with "*" are crimes for which guns were actually used. | L. The number of seized illegal guns are as follows. | '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 | --------------------------------------------------------------- | 963 1032 1450 1672 1747 | (45) (78) (378) (476) (505) | | * Figures in () are from non Bouryoku-dan citizens. | M. Punishment to gun crimes are as follows. | By 'over', I mean 'equal to or more than'. | Shooting ... penal servitude of over 3 years or for life | Illegal owning ... penal servitude of 1 to 10 years | Import ... penal servitude of over 3 years | Import for sale ... penal servitude of over 5 years or for life | with penalty of at most 10,000,000 Yen. | Manufacturing ... penal servitude of over 3 years | Manufacturing for sale ... penal servitude of over 5 years or for life | with penalty of at most 5,000,000 Yen. | Transfer ... penal servitude of 1 to 10 years. | Transfer for sale ... penal servitude of over 3 years | with penalty of at most 5,000,000 Yen.