In September, the National Police Agency issued a provisional White Paper that included crime statistics for the first six months of 2013. The nationwide data included: 260 illegal handguns confiscated by police; seven cases of armed robbery committed with guns; 24 incidents in which firearms were discharged (so-called happō-jiken) but failed to hit a human target; two people wounded by gunfire (both of whom were members of designated criminal syndicates); and a remarkably low one homicide (also a gang member).
Japan's annual body count from firearms has been decreasing for some years, and from 2011 fell to the single-digit level, with eight deaths. In 2012, the figure declined to four.
Reams of red tape and high costs for licensing have discouraged legal gun ownership, to the extent that the total number of legally owned shotguns and rifles (private ownership of handguns is prohibited) have dropped below 400,000. Even the sole wild cards in the gun equation, the yakuza, have been disarming. The Sankei Shimbun (Dec. 22) reported that following a major police crackdown in November 1995, the number of guns confiscated has continued to decline year on year.