Japan tightens gun-control guidelines

Japan adopted stricter gun control guidelines Wednesday following a spate of gangster shootings that rattled a nation renowned for its crime-free streets, a government official said.

The measures are intended to reduce the smuggling of guns into Japan by organized crime groups and focus on getting rid of guns already in circulation, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura said.

"Most of the guns that are confiscated in Japan are foreign guns," Shimomura said. "It is important to prevent an influx of these guns from abroad."

The new guidelines for law enforcement agencies will require foreign aircraft and ships to report more detailed information of their cargo, passengers and crew to Japanese customs authorities. Inspections of suspicious cargo can then be carried out.

Shimomura said the government will also step up monitoring of crime syndicates to uncover and confiscate guns already in circulation, he said, without elaborating.

Calls for more stringent gun control have intensified in the wake of last week's fatal shooting of Nagasaki's mayor, and a gangster attack in the streets of a Tokyo suburb a few days later.

"We must prevent this nation from becoming flooded with guns, no matter what," Japan's largest daily Yomiuri Shimbun said in an editorial Sunday.

Private handguns are banned in Japan, and only police officers and other professionals such as shooting instructors can own them. Hunting rifles are strictly licensed and regulated.

Despite the laws, high-profile gunbattles between gangsters have increased. Of the 53 shootings reported in 2006, two-thirds _ 36 _ were blamed on organized crime groups, the National Police Agency says.