HANDMADE GUNS USED IN CRIMES

[Anchor Lead]

Late Japanese PM Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a handmade gun. The killer learned how to make it by watching a YouTube video. With gun components also being easily accessible online, anyone can learn how to make guns.

[Pkg]

A bullet breaks four beer cans in a row and pierces seven wooden plates, each one centimeter thick. This powerful gun was made by hand using components smuggled from overseas. Six years ago a police officer was killed with a handmade gun. The perpetrator owned 16 handmade firearms, all made with the help of the Internet. A quick search on the Internet gives out a list of websites selling gun components. Anyone can easily learn how to make guns by watching YouTube. Last year, the Korea Communications Standards Commission deleted and blocked 670 posts about firearms. More than four times as many were found in the first half of this year. Most of the websites in question have servers abroad. Even when blocked, they can still be accessed using detours.

[Soundbite] Chung Yong-kyun(Nat'l Police Agency) : "Most of them are overseas websites that are not under our jurisdiction. We have no right to detain them. We are trying to delete and block them quickly."

3D printers are used overseas to make components for firearms. There are no clear grounds for investigating them in Korea.

[Soundbite] Prof. Kim Eun-young(Catholic Kwandong Univ.) : "No laws have stipulations about investigating 3D printing. Police doesn’t have to investigate that separately."

To prevent copycat crimes, police will launch a special crackdown on online posts regarding gun production through August 15. There are calls for stronger measures to prevent handmade guns.