No good deed goes unpunished.

Last summer, we reported on an announcement by the police that a certain toy gun found in crane games across Japan was deemed a real gun. Honestly, it’s a little laughable, since even though the toy barrel is large enough to hold a real bullet and the toy hammer is correctly aligned enough to fire the bullet, chances are the whole thing would probably just blow up in a would-be shooter’s hand. Still, the National Police Agency is clearly leaving nothing to chance.

Our report and others also mentioned that, along with the Real Gimmick Mini Revolver, 16 other toy gun models were deemed lethal weapons by the police. It was around that time that a 77-year-old man in Shizuoka City recognized one of those other toys as two in his possession. They arrived at his home from an e-commerce site about a year earlier, even though he had never ordered them. Because he couldn’t contact the intended recipient, he had just been hanging on to them.

▼ News report showing images of the toy gun in question

The reports mentioned that a grace period was enacted wherein anyone who hands in their toy guns would not be charged with illegal possession of a firearm, so on 29 August, that’s what the man did. However, the grace period only applied to the Real Gimmick Mini Revolver, not the other 16 guns, so after testing to confirm the toys could fire real bullets, the Shizuoka Police filed charges against the man on 19 November.

Readers of the news online were outraged by the treatment of this elderly man, who through no fault of his own was treated like a criminal. Others felt that if the police’s goal is to get these guns out of the public, this isn’t helping.

“So, he would have been better off dumping them than giving them to the police?”
“Shouldn’t the person who ordered the guns be charged instead?”
“That’s terrible to just get a package, then be suspected of a crime.”
“I get a lot of things from China I didn’t order. It’s mostly car interior strippers.”
“It was sent to his doorstep. What more could he have done?”
“Way to discourage other people from surrendering them.”
“The guy would have had no idea it was illegal, and didn’t order them, so no intent.”
“The police drop charges against people all the time, but not this guy?”

The police actually never drop charges against anyone, because they technically aren’t authorized to. That sort of decision is left to the public prosecutor’s office. Of course, they have the discretion to overlook certain transgressions and let people off with a warning when, for instance, they encounter someone wearing a mankini out in public. But as far as the system goes, their job is to report the crime and submit the charges to the prosecutor’s office, who will then decide whether to drop them or proceed.

While a warning even seems too much for this case, it’s made complicated by the fact that the police received illegal goods from the “suspect.” Since there’s an official record of the toys being handed over, everything needs to be done by the book, or the police will risk being accused of mishandling a firearms case.

In the end, there’s a 99.999 percent chance the case will be dropped by the prosecutor in a heartbeat, because it’s stupid. Nevertheless, it’s still a crummy way to treat a guy just trying to do the right thing.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, Hachima Kiko
Top image: National Police Agency
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