Can you say 'overreaction'?

I knew you could.
OTSU, Shiga Prefecture--Given this nation's strict gun control law, were police overreacting when they swooped on a TV broadcaster that had allowed a celebrity to handle a hunting rifle during a live broadcast?

The Shiga prefectural police insist they were perfectly within their rights, but TV networks are outraged, citing the fact the weapon was not loaded.

The incident stems from a show aired Jan. 17 by Biwako Broadcasting Co. Almost four months later, police mounted a search of the premises and confiscated a dozen items, including a script and a DVD of the show.

Critics accuse the police of being overzealous and question their motives, but law enforcement officials remain unrepentant.

Shiga prefectural police regard the incident, in which a hunter with a gun permit allowed TV personality Noburo Harada, 57, to momentarily handle the rifle during the show, as a serious breach of a law concerning the storage and management of firearms.
AHHHHHH! There was a GUN involved!!!
The program in question was set in Yogo, where Harada and other cast members were served a pot of wild boar meat. The hunter who had killed the boar appeared in the scene. He offered the unloaded weapon to Harada and asked,"Do you want to hold it?"

Harada held the rifle and commented, "It's heavy, isn't it?" adding, "Not everybody has a chance to hold it, right?"

He held the firearm for six seconds and then gave it back.
Six seconds. Unloaded gun.
But police say they don't understand what all the fuss is about. They say the media has, by focusing on the celebrity angle, blurred the facts in the case.

A senior official with the Shiga prefectural police said the real issue is not that Harada briefly held the rifle, but whether bringing the rifle to the live broadcast was appropriate in terms of "storage and management."
Uh huh.
The incident called into question whether existing regulations regarding gun permits and firearm storage were adequate.

"I believe the hunter who handed the rifle to the actor and the TV crew lacked an awareness of the firearm's potential danger," another police official said.
Do you smell politics involved? "This PROVES we need even MORE STRICT laws on guns!"
The Shiga prefectural police justify the raid on the grounds that they had to find out how it was possible to bring a gun to the show.

By transporting the gun to the show, the hunter may have violated the rules under which he was granted a gun permit, police asserted.

They defended questioning Harada and the crew as crucial to ferreting out the real issue--did those involved in the program improperly store and manage the weapon?
Ah, there's that famous 'store and manage' crap. You'll remember that last year a guy in Canada got a call from the police while on vacation. He'd built a vault for his guns. Two guys broke in, found it, spent two days(as I recall) stealing tools from other places to break into it. They guy was informed that he was being charged with 'improperly storing' his guns. Here, the licensed owner carried it, had it in control, but for the horrendous act of letting someone hold it for a few seconds is being considered a criminal. And they'll probably yank his license.

Go read the whole thing to see what a country with Pelosis and Obamas and Schumers running things is like. You won't like it. Thanks to Alphecca for bringing this mess up.