By Justin Stakes
Fujisawa, Japan –(Ammoland.com)- When a local resident near Tokyo, Japan was suspected of the possession and use of firearms that were created using a commercial 3-d printer, local officials immediately investigated the situation.
The initial investigation began when Yoshitomo Imura; an employee of the Shonan Institute of Technology in Fujisawa, Japan was reported posting photos and tweeting online about the plastic guns he had just manufactured.
The videos and photos posted simply show Yoshitomo firing and testing his newly created firearms, as well as the blueprints that were used.
Yoshitomo seemed quite compliant, admitting to the police that he used the 3-D printer at his home in Fujisawa to make the firearms and stated, “I made them myself, but I didn’t know they were illegal.” Then further stated, “I can’t complain about the arrest if the police regard them as real guns.”
Imura even expressed that he had modified the firearms in order for them to shoot live ammunition.
While no one really knows where the man downloaded the files from, there is speculation that the files were downloaded from a server in America. There’s also the assumption that the designs used for the 3-D printed firearms could be influenced from Cody Wilson’s blueprints that were downloaded last year after he demonstrated the world’s first functioning 3D-printed gun dubbed “The Liberator.”
Tokyo Police overran the home of the 27 year old college employee and confiscated a total of five 3-D printed firearms. This is the first time in Japan’s history in which the countries’ Firearm Control Law has been put into action in order to arrest and detain a man for the use and assembly of 3-D printed weapons.
The local police were reported as finding two 3-D firearms that were essentially capable of killing another person as they had the ability to fire live ammunition, however they were unable to find any bullets.
Japan is a country that takes pride in its extremely low firearms death rate which has to do with the fact that they have some of the strictest laws in regards to the possession and use of weapons in general, not just firearms.
The original video that was uploaded and posted to YouTube by Mr. Imura can be seen in ANN’s News video.
Article by Justin Stakes
Photo Copyright @ J. Stakes Photography
Justin Stakes is a Freelance Photographer and Photo Journalist dealing with a variety of different subjects that interest and inspire. His photographic style is a mixture of photojournalism and fine art which results in very sharp and colorful photos. He has won three Photo Show Competitions and has even been exhibited in the Wignall Museum of Contemporary Art. Through his education, he has had the pleasure and honor of being taught by some of the best professionals in the field of Public Relations, Studio and Fine Art Photography.