I’m not sure why I remembered that news story. I have always loved Eagles. A couple Abes shot, popped into my head reading news of the former prime minister.
I know they’re pronounced different.
Reminds me of that guy, Abby Normal.
This just makes me so stinkin’ sad.
Glad they caught the suspect. I am very curious about his motive.
Edit: I should clarify. I know what the published motive is but what’s the grudge/fear?
This is really tragic. In a country with tighter security, a bodyguard would have had plenty of time to protect Abe from the second, fatal, shot.
Of course, in such a country, a more lethal firearm would have been available for use.
Considering that there are fewer than ten shooting deaths in Japan every year, I don’t think Abe’s security was expecting an attacker with a gun. Otherwise they’d never have allowed him to give a speech on the street corner by a subway station - the setup was basically the equivalent of Obama hosting a rally at an El station in the Loop, or Dubya addressing the crowd waiting in line at Whataburger.
The incident happened at this intersection just outside Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara. It’s hard to tell for sure, but it looks like Yamagami was about 25 feet away from Abe when the first security agents tackled him (and was probably even closer before that first tackling photo got snapped). That seems close enough to have been a potential threat even if he had only packed a kitchen knife. Video also shows him hanging around well before Abe’s speech started, and it seems nobody noticed the oddball item (his homemade shotgun) slung from his shoulder on a strap.
You’re right, nobody that day would have reasonably anticipated a firearm threat, but it seems like they weren’t terribly well prepared for any threat.
Is there a correlation between loose gun laws and tight security (or tight gun laws and loose security)?
A US bodyguard/protector has to assume that something like the D-Day Nazi machine-guns firing on Omaha Beach is possible anyplace and anytime by anybody and train and equip themselves accordingly.
But I would think that VIP protection in the many wealthy, stable nations that don’t allow child-hunting is generally just as tight as the US if the circumstances call for it.
The appearance of the Abe security’s actions will not get rave reviews, I suspect. But as usual, many will be quick to jump to conclusions without knowing all, or even any, of the facts.
Probably the Nippon Kaigi
I don’t think that’s correct, at least for Canada. Some years ago, I was in Ottawa, and I was walking on the Sparks Street pedestrian mall. A crowd was moving down the mall towards me. Turned out Gorby was in town, and went for a walk in downtown Ottawa, and people were just following along. Purely spontaneous, as far as I could tell. Gorby stopped right in front of me, because there was a musician busker singing. Gorbachev got a big grin on his face and was clapping along to the song. When it was over, he just kept on walking.
As well, one day in the 90s I was coming out of my office tower for lunch, and as I came out the door, Prime Minister Chrétien shook my hand. The tower opened onto a pedestrian mall, and he was working the crowds. I came out just as he reached the end of a group, and grabbed my hand to shake it. I assume there was a security detail somewhere.
We had a thread on this topic some years ago. This post by @Martini_Enfield has stayed with me:
…And I doubt they were incompetent. Rather, they were probably offering the level of protection that had been determined to be appropriate for the person, place, time, and situation. Like the Merkel anecdote above.
As an “average citizen” I doubt you (or I) would be made privy to all the layers and types of security in those situations. I doubt that you (or I) would notice any but the most obvious, ham-fisted efforts.
Sometimes, I think the principal may overrule certain security recommendations even if they’re insane for doing so. Other times, as with Trump wanting to go to the Capitol on January 6th, a principal’s wishes may be ignored or shot down (heh).
I’m sure that security details have screwed the pooch more than once and I don’t pretend to have any special knowledge about these operations. It’s not my line of work.
Fortunately, five or six Medal of Honor winning former SEAL Dopers will be along shortly to use acronyms no one has heard of outside of Special Forces or their mom’s basement TV and set us allllllll straight about the how inept Japanese bodyguards are in general and how mass shootings help make gonzo American uber-Rambos unstoppable bodyguards.
For, you see, Japanese security of the NLORTSP only use MT-17–QTS which is nothing more than a pea-shooter, where as good American heroes like the YRSSJR-1 and 2 only make use of GG2M’s and RGPLL-200’s as seen in movies like AAGS and AAGS 2-The Final Battle.
If those silly, horribly-trained Japanese bodyguards lived in a REAL country where little kids are killed by the ten or twenty every month or so and where real men all own five assault rifles each they would have been armed with bazookas and all would have been awesome!!!
This, from a doper who has vociferously objected to acronyms!
Moderating:
@I_Love_Me_Vol.I , your post is off topic, political, and weirdly aggressive. It’s not appropriate for this thread.
Is off-topic. It’s not related to the event at all. And it’s not appropriate to complain about stuff other posters actually said. It’s REALLY not cool to complain about things you imagine other posters will say eventually.
Is overly political for a breaking news thread.
Cease and desist.
Please, just report it.
It didn’t appear that the bodyguards were carefully observing the entire crowd. The ones on camera were focused on Abe and had to turn after the first shot.
/hijack/Thank you for volunteering to do a job that is so important, but also so sucky. You are doing a great job, thank you./hijack/
I’m seeing some reports that the killer blamed Abe for his mother’s involvement in a religious cult. Abe’s wiki page only lists Buddhism and Shinto for Abe’s religion. Anyone have any idea what that might be about?
I’m leaning towards “factually unfounded delusion” at this moment.
There’s ‘Shinto’ and then there’s pre-ww2 era state-coopted right wing Shinto. Abe would be (and is) sorta into that.
Or the guy just could have been a kook. We will see.
This is modern Ise Jingu, the home of Shinto.
I just read a report on spiegel.de speculating about the religious group in question being the Moonies. No confirmation, just allegations, so take it with a grain of salt.