Tonight, the assassination of former Prime Minister S.A shocked not just Japan, but the world. Flags were ordered to half-staff here in the United States to honor the country’s longest serving prime minister. A. met with four of the last US President including J.B when he was Vice President. Graphic video of the attack shows the final moments of A.’s life as he was gunned down while delivering a campaign speech. Now, what makes this shooting so stunning, Japan has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world. The suspect was quickly apprehended. Police say he used a homemade gun. They confiscated similar weapons along with his personal computer when they raided his apartment.

S.A was truly a giant of Japan’s political landscape for more than fifty years. And his death is a national trauma. S.A was giving a political speech to a small crowd when a shot rang out behind him, then another. And he fell to the ground. His security tackled the gunman immediately, but it was too late. The former prime minister lay in the road with fatal wounds to his neck and chest. Shield by a blue tarp, he was medevacked to a local hospital where doctors tried to resuscitate him with blood transfusions but in vain. The suspected gunman is forty-one-year-old T.A, ex-military man, whose weapon appeared to be made with pipes and duct tape. Police searching his home found even more homemade guns along with explosives. This is a huge shock in Japan where strict gun control laws mean shooting deaths are extremely rare. There was just one last year compared to more than forty-five thousand in the United States. All day world leaders paid their respects. President B signed a condolence the Japanese embassy in Washington, he said A.’s death had left him stunned and outraged. S.A was Japan’s longest serving prime minister, a right-wing nationalist and Hawk. He was a fierce supporter of Japan’s military and his country’s role as America’s trade and defense partner in the face of China’s rising threat. Japan’s gun laws contain really stringent conditions, not only on mental health checks but also on the sale of ammunition. But it looks as if the suspect did an end run on both of those by making his gun at home.

:::tip confiscate

• : to seize as forfeited to the public treasury 没收，充公

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:::tip resuscitate

• : to revive from apparent death or from unconsciousness 使复活

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:::tip stringent

• : marked by rigor, strictness, or severity especially with regard to rule or standard 严格的

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