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President Joe Biden on Friday condemned the assassination in Japan of former Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, who was shot at a campaign rally in the middle of the street, and said he was stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened by the news.
In a statement issued by the White House, Biden said that Abe’s assassination is a tragedy for Japan and for all those who knew him and sent condolences to the former prime minister’s family.
President Biden took advantage of the terrible attack against Shinzō Abe to make politics by arguing that his assassination was a product of gun violence, claiming that guns always leave a deep scar on the communities they affect.
Biden’s comments on “gun violence” were criticized by several conservative activists, including Ben Shapiro, because guns are completely banned in Japan, and the attack was allegedly committed with a homemade gun. The president, instead of reproaching the offender’s actions, immediately turned to criticize guns.
Biden met Abe during his time as vice president in the Barack Obama administration (2009-2017).
The influential Japanese politician died at 17.03 local time (8.03 GMT) in a hospital in Nara, about four hours after being transferred to the center by helicopter from the scene of the attack and without doctors being able to save his life because of damage to his heart and several arteries.
The man arrested for the attack, Tetsuya Yamagami, is a 41-year-old unemployed man and a former member of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (Japanese Army), who was dissatisfied with the former president and therefore went to kill him, according to police sources.
