Japan Press Weekly

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2013 September 11 - 17 [US FORCES]

Yokosuka mayor asks US forces to not allow children to hold guns

The Yokosuka City mayor said that he asked the U.S. military not to allow children and adult civilians to hold guns at its events, in his written reply to an open letter from local civil groups.

As part of the attractions on Friendship Day, the U.S. military’s annual community relations event held on August 3 at the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, the U.S. military offered Japanese visitors, including children, an opportunity to hold guns.

In protest against this action, five local groups in the prefecture, including prefectural chapters of the Japan Peace Committee, the Japan Council against A and H Bombs, and the New Japan Women’s Association, on August 27 submitted the open letter to City Mayor Yoshida Yuto.

The written response from the mayor issued on September 6 states that when Yokosuka Base Commander CAPT David Glesniter visited the city office to explain about the attraction, Mayor Yoshida said that letting citizens hold guns was an extreme act and told the commander not to repeat it again. The mayor, however, claims that the U.S. military’s annual event is a significant event for the city.

Representing the Miura Peninsula liaison council against the U.S. nuclear carrier deployment to Yokosuka, one of the five groups, Niikura Yasuo criticized the city mayor for failing to take a firm protest stance against the U.S. military which allowed citizens to hold firearms in defiance of the Constitution and domestic laws. He demanded that the city take a firm stance opposing this attraction.

Past related article:
> Yokosuka citizens protest against US forces’ public exposure to guns [August 29, 2013]