August 07, 2023, 3:32 PM EST
By Goro Tachitsu
BACKGROUND
Since 1612 at the beginning of the Edo period Karakura began to show its first few cases of its crime-ridden culture, different groups began to show themselves and what they really wanted, as far as our research goes the first ever cases of weapons being used for crime in Karakura dates back to the Kabukimono an old group of Rōnin that plagued the city back until the 1900s. After their reign over the city the crime grew and grew until they crippled themselves under their own weight, there was peace for a little while until the Nashima Clan decided it got too quiet and revived the crime and created what some know today as the KBM or Karakura Black Market. This is nothing new to the people of Karakura and is what fuels the very fire that burns Karakurs today, what these people want we don’t know, what we know is they have been around for a very, long time. Now that we’re over a brief history of the KBM, now we speak about what it’s truly become and how it obviously has a negative impact on our city, we’ve seen bare children walk around with metal bats, katanas, and pocket knives like it’s just another accessory, of course, the police have been trying to crack down on this issue for a long time but to no prevail.
INSIGHTS
26.1% of the 810 KPD arrest logs are related to ‘weaponry’, that is roughly around 212 arrests with weapons involved out of the 810 total arrests, the numbers may be too large but they shouldn’t have reached these heights in the first place, so why is this? Well, that’s because the process of purchasing a weapon is quite easy. In this section we’re going to get different views on this topic and try to order one ourselves, but first, what do the people have to say about this pandemic? We asked the people of Karakura to let us know what they think about this crisis
‘’I see a lot of weapons everywhere. The police aren't ever gonna be able to snuff out all the dealers so it’s kind of hopeless. But they kind of suck. People want them to do harm so people feel like they need them to protect themselves’’ -
‘’It is honestly brutal. Considering Karakura is an extremely populated city, there should be more efforts to regulate crime.’’ -
‘’Honestly, weapons are easily being dragged inside the school. A few weeks ago when I was a council member, we used to receive tons of books from students who were selling illegal weapons inside school. With the numbers, names, and prices. It was insane.’’ -
‘’Weapons are like a disease. Almost everyone has them and it hasn't given Karakura a good name. Almost all students have access to weapons and it's honestly disgraceful to know you can walk out of the school and immediately, you're met with 75% of people who have access to weapons. It's making Karakura an extremely unsafe place.’’ -
KPD
After we got some comments from the people we decided to pay the KPD a visit, in order to see what this issue looks like from their perspective, here we got to see firsthand how big of an issue this really easily and some more details on the weapons police confiscate from convicts
I asked for the rate of the amount of weapon-related arrests that come in a week.
‘’For illegal weaponry a week maybe like 3-5 a week, it's not that many compared to other arrests.’’ Another officer added ''It depends on the criminal activity, there are weeks where it's higher or lower than usual’’
I then asked for an estimate on these arrests per month, and I received this response.
''Right so per month I've only been here for around a month and honestly, I'm not awake for many illegal weaponry arrests so I couldn't give you an exact number but like 10-20? Honestly, I couldn't give you an exact number. The amount tends to change a lot."
After this, I asked how they would categorize these arrests based on the weaponry on someone’s person.
"We had different sentences and bails for different types of weapons a few months ago. It used to be the possession of minor illegal weaponry for things such as knives and possession of major illegal weaponry for things such as katanas. However, they all fall under the same sentence now."
''We don't keep every single weapon we confiscate. We've made around 127 possession of Illegal Weaponry arrests this year, we don't have the capacity to keep all of those. We therefore only keep those we need to further investigate it if the weapon was bloody for example. We really only keep new types of weapons or different variants of one, the rest gets incinerated."
EMS
After this we talked to a surgeon, to try and get an idea of how often these weapon attacks happen and how badly injured someone could be if they encountered one
I asked for an estimate on the amount of weapon-related injuries that come into the hospital, we got this answer:
''On average or a better week we receive up to perhaps.. around 10 patients with an amputation of some sort. From personal experience, at one of the peaks would be treating 3 amputation patients back to back in the matter of a day''
'it's surprising that amputations are far more common than a stab wound''
I moved on to ask what are the types of people that come in with these injuries. We got this response:
''For amputations..? The worst part is that it seems to be exclusively the younger population of Karakura. All high school or college children... I don't think I've ever treated an adult for a missing limb, stab wound, or missing eye...''
The Surgeon expressed her concerns about this issue and we decided to end the interview there.
INTERVIEW
We tried to get in contact with one of these dealers but had no luck in getting a successful interview, but we did get through to one... Trying to ask questions about their job, it went as well as you expected it to. We provided a transcript below on how the conversation went.
G - Goro Tachitsu
BMD - Black Market Dealer
[BMD] You asking questions, be thorough with it, and ask away. I do not have the time.
[G] Well then, Would a meetup be possible?
[BMD] You can ask over the phone or at a business opening somehow
[G] No. I'd rather ask my questions in person, you could be masked or whatever I do not care.
At this point the woman over the phone had hung up, so I called back.
[BMD] I knew it, You are obsessed with me!
[G] As much as I would love to play these silly games with you I'd rather get this over with.
[G] What is it like dealing in this sort of business? and what are the risks that come with it?
[BMD] This business is heaven. The only possible risks of dealing with business would be the death-starved men and females and approaching me, I suppose I'm somewhat of a... Y'know, I'm a goddess
[G] Is that so? I would believe it if your attitude gave off the same impression. Anyway, what type of people approach you for these items? kids? or adults? sports team members?
[BMD] How would I know? I deal. Ahh, I do know that the adults love me; they hold me in high regard.
[G] Hmm.. you do hold yourself as a high-value woman, but in this current situation, you're not proving yourself very useful. Maybe I'll have to find a more competent dealer to speak to about this...
[BMD] How disappointing. Number one piece of advice from a dealer -- never judge the better.
This first attempt at obtaining an interview proved futile, I tried to get in contact with a dealer that would provide me
with satisfactory answers, though these attempts were in vain, in order to fill the large gap in this report I decided to collect information
about some weapons, I would consider to be used by the upper body of the criminal underground
We tried to get in contact with one of these dealers but had no luck in getting a successful interview, but we did get through to one... Trying to ask questions about their job, it went as well as you expected it to. We provided a transcript below on how the conversation went.
G - Goro Tachitsu
BMD - Black Market Dealer
[BMD] You asking questions, be thorough with it, and ask away. I do not have the time.
[G] Well then, Would a meetup be possible?
[BMD] You can ask over the phone or at a business opening somehow
[G] No. I'd rather ask my questions in person, you could be masked or whatever I do not care.
At this point the woman over the phone had hung up, so I called back.
[BMD] I knew it, You are obsessed with me!
[G] As much as I would love to play these silly games with you I'd rather get this over with.
[G] What is it like dealing in this sort of business? and what are the risks that come with it?
[BMD] This business is heaven. The only possible risks of dealing with business would be the death-starved men and females and approaching me, I suppose I'm somewhat of a... Y'know, I'm a goddess
[G] Is that so? I would believe it if your attitude gave off the same impression. Anyway, what type of people approach you for these items? kids? or adults? sports team members?
[BMD] How would I know? I deal. Ahh, I do know that the adults love me; they hold me in high regard.
[G] Hmm.. you do hold yourself as a high-value woman, but in this current situation, you're not proving yourself very useful. Maybe I'll have to find a more competent dealer to speak to about this...
[BMD] How disappointing. Number one piece of advice from a dealer -- never judge the better.
This first attempt at obtaining an interview proved futile, I tried to get in contact with a dealer that would provide me
with satisfactory answers, though these attempts were in vain, in order to fill the large gap in this report I decided to collect information
about some weapons, I would consider to be used by the upper body of the criminal underground
WHAT ARE WE DEALING WITH?
Visual into the unveiled arsenal that strikes fear at the heart of the fine citizens of Karakura
Katana
A katana is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and a long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the tachi, it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge facing upward.
1.1 - 1 Kg
Approx. 60–80 cm (23.62–31.5 in)
Naginata
The naginata is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades. Naginata were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru and sōhei. The naginata is the iconic weapon of the onna-musha, a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese
Over 650 grams (23 oz)
Blade length is c. 85–100 centimeters (33–39 in).
Tactical Knife
A tactical knife is a knife with one or more military (martial) features designed for use in extreme situations. In popular usage, the terms "fighting knife" and "tactical knife" are frequently employed interchangeably, although tactical knife is principally designed to be used as a utility tool, not as a weapon.
8.12oz
7.4 inch; Thickness: 3.3 mm
Spiked Bat
A spiked baseball bat is a two-handed melee weapon. A craftable improvement on the basic baseball bat which does more damage, generally killing Zombie
with one well-charged hit.
33 ounces (0.94 kg)
42 inches (1.067 m)
This is just a list of the fewer but more dangerous weapons seen around the city
Visual into the unveiled arsenal that strikes fear at the heart of the fine citizens of Karakura
Katana
A katana is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and a long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the tachi, it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge facing upward.
1.1 - 1 Kg
Approx. 60–80 cm (23.62–31.5 in)
Naginata
The naginata is a pole weapon and one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades. Naginata were originally used by the samurai class of feudal Japan, as well as by ashigaru and sōhei. The naginata is the iconic weapon of the onna-musha, a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese
Over 650 grams (23 oz)
Blade length is c. 85–100 centimeters (33–39 in).
Tactical Knife
A tactical knife is a knife with one or more military (martial) features designed for use in extreme situations. In popular usage, the terms "fighting knife" and "tactical knife" are frequently employed interchangeably, although tactical knife is principally designed to be used as a utility tool, not as a weapon.
8.12oz
7.4 inch; Thickness: 3.3 mm
Spiked Bat
A spiked baseball bat is a two-handed melee weapon. A craftable improvement on the basic baseball bat which does more damage, generally killing Zombie
with one well-charged hit.
33 ounces (0.94 kg)
42 inches (1.067 m)
This is just a list of the fewer but more dangerous weapons seen around the city
From now on I will be collecting yearly statistics on the topic of weapons, in order to keep the city updated on the rapidly growing weapon pandemic.
so look out for those, thank you for reading this report.
For now, these are all the spots that I'll go over in this report, sometime in the future more spots will be documented, look out for a part 2 and
don't forget you can call our hotline for anything news related
(020) 980-4487
