Shinzo Abe’s assassin used a homemade weapon

It’s the clumsy homemade weapon used to assassinate former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe on Friday in a country that has some of the toughest gun laws in the world.

Footage of the shocking attack appears to show the killer – identified as 41-year-old military veteran Tetsuya Yamagami – throwing the black duct tape-covered crude firearm moments after shooting dead the former prime minister.

He remained close to the assassin’s feet as security tackled him to the ground – while others began doomed attempts to save Abe, 67, who bled to death from two wounds gunshot wounds, including one in the neck.

The images show what appears to be a crude double-barreled shotgun, with two tubes glued together on a wooden body and a black grip.

Military officials told state broadcaster NHK that Yamagami served in the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years – from 2002 to 2005 – and was “frustrated” with Abe.

Police found several possible explosives during a raid on Yamagami’s house, and the suspect confessed that he had “made several guns and explosives so far”, NHK said.

The shooting was particularly shocking in a country that prides itself on having some of the toughest gun laws in the world.

Private citizens aren’t allowed to own handguns, and licensed hunters can only own rifles — and even then only after taking classes, passing a written test and undergoing a mental health assessment and a background check.

Shootings, when they occur, usually involve “yakuza” gangsters using illegal weapons. When massacres take place in Japan, such as when 19 people were murdered in a facility for the mentally handicapped in 2016, they tend to be executed with knives.

With post wires