Shinzo Abe murder explained: Why was it so easy for a lone attacker to kill Japan's ex-PM?

Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest serving ex-prime minister, was murdered in broad daylight on Friday. He was attending a political function in Nara district when a 41-year-old man shot him twice with a home-made shotgun. The accused, identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, is unemployed and believed Abe had promoted a religious group that his mother went bankrupt donating to. "My mother got wrapped up in a religious group and I resented it," he told the media.c He made a weapon with parts bought online. He attended Abe's campaign events, perhaps armed. He even considered using a bomb to eliminate Abe. He made several guns by wrapping steel pipes together with tape. Shinzo Abe's murdered, however, could have been prevented had the Japanese government taken his security seriously.

 Why was it so easy for Tetsuya Yamagami to kill Shinzo Abe?

Japan is a fairly gun-violence free country. Last year, only 10 gun-violence related incidents were reported. Only one involved murder of a person. Politicians in one of the richest countries in the world move around with lighter security cover compared to countries like the United States and India, where they are constantly under threat of terror-related violence. 

Take Shinzo Abe's case for instance. According to Japan's media, Shinzo Abe was protected by just one armed specialised police officer who travelled with the politician from Tokyo. There were some other local officers. In India, the prime minister is protected by several layers of security which is spearheaded by an elite commando unit created for this specific purpose. All ex-PMs are also protected by the highly trained soldiers. In the United States, the secret service protects the President of the country. 

Abe was standing outside a train station and was speaking to a crowd as buses and vans passed behind him on the road. The assailant easily came back behind him and shot him without the fear of any resistance. 

Japanese security experts --  Masazumi Nakajima and  Koichi Ito -- said anyone could have hit him due to a "little too weak security". "The person needs to be covered from all directions," ITO added.

This is the first assasination of a prime minister of Japan since in 1932, when Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai was assassinated by radical naval officers. 

A politician told the news agency Reuters that despite being a high-profile politician, Abe's security had been downscaled since he quit in 2020 over illness. 

Grant Newsham, a retired US Marine Officer and former diplomat at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, told the news agency that the security should have been tighter for Japan's politicians.  

Another reason for the attacker to approach Abe easily was the nature of politics in Japan. Normally politicians tend to go near their audience during campaigning.

Politicians generally don't feel insecure when in the crowd. Also, gun violence is rare because of the country's strict gun possession law. 

With inputs from Reuters