Japanese Police Detect Chinese Toy Pistols That Can Fire Live Rounds

The Japanese National Police Agency has warned about toy pistols sold online that are capable of firing live ammunition.

In some cases, the police have taken action on individuals with such pistols for illegal handgun possession. "Even if you stumble across such products, do not buy them," Japan Times quoted an NPA official as saying.

The police have identified 16 different types of such toy pistols that employ this mechanism. All of them are made in China and are priced between several hundred yen and several thousand yen. They range from ones made of metal that resemble real pistols to colorful plastic ones.

In 2023, the NPA posted warnings over illegal toy guns on the websites of prefectural police departments. So far, police have seized about 1,100 of such products in Japan.

The NPA first discovered the illegal product through cyber patrol activities in June 2022. The product was marketed on a major Japanese online shopping website as a toy gun that fires plastic bullets.

While it does not pose any danger when used as a toy, it adopts the same bullet-firing mechanism as a real pistol, with a firing pin that strikes the back of a bullet.

As such, if real bullets are used, it can be used as a lethal weapon, the NPA said.