From: ehorne@zeus.calpoly.edu (Eric T Horne)
Subject: Re: Japanese exchange student killed in Louisiana...
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1992 03:10:38 GMT

In article <1992Nov5.064635.26650@nntp.csl.sony.co.jp> kono@csl.sony.co.jp writes:
>In article <pa142548.398.720914051@utkvm1.utk.edu> , 
>	pa142548@utkvm1.utk.edu (T. Archer) writes 
>>No "excuse" is necessary.  The facts indicate that the citizen had 
>>reasonable cause to feel that he was threatened, and did not have the luxury 
>>of exploring further.  He gave a verbal warning, which was ignored.  In his 
>>perception, he had no choice but to shoot.
>
>I cannot believe this posting....  A simple warning is no excuse for
>the murder. How do you think if your police start gun fire with a
>warning?

I don't think I would be stupid enough as to approach the police if they
had guns pointed at me. I do think that the police would give me a warning
then pause to make sure I heed the warning, and if I do not or I make any
sudden movements, or what have you, then they might start shooting. And
understandably so.

>
>The murderer had many other choices, for example,

Correct me if I am wrong, but the house-owner is not charged with murder, is
he? (I do not know, I am not being sarcastic here. )

Lets take a good look at your "other choices" and see what I come up
with.

>    Repeat warnings,
Ok so He could have repeated the warnings, maybe once or twice more. This
might have been acceptable, although the more time you spend telling him to
freeze, the more time he has to pull out his own weapon and shoot you. 
Also, you can only repeat your commands so many times before it is
too late and you are dead. So repeating would have been OK, but what do
you do after you have repeated this? Lets take a look at what you said...

>    Wait and see,

This is great. Wait and see what? Wait to see if he stabs you? Wait and
see if he rapes your wife and takes your possesions? Wait and see if
he tortures your children or worse yet wait and see if he uses your blood
as ink for writing some sick message on the walls of your own home? I
don't see the logic in waiting, because waiting allows the act to occur,
and this is exactly what the home-owner was trying to prevent! Next...

>    Shut the door again,

Shut the door again, and wait? See the above paragraph. Shutting the 
door only allows the intruder (in this case the intruder has intruded his
property and not the structure) unsupervised access to anything outside
of the house, and could even attempt to set it on fire, steal a 
vehicle, thrashing the outside of the house, etc. This is not very
protective of property, nor is it protective of your family. 

>    Call someone for help,

Calling for help would have been a good choice, although in this country
you cannot rely on the police showing up on time. So while it is a good
idea to call for "backup", it is also a good idea to secure the property,
and protect your family. "Backup" does not always get there.

>    Run away,

Great! Run away, and leave his family and property to the intruder. This
is WORSE than simply waiting, because now the family has one less member to
protect them. It was also HIS PROPERTY. He should not have to run away from
it if some idiot decides to break into the house. Don't be stupid, this is
one of the worst ideas I have ever heard!

>    Shoot something other than Hattori's body,

That is just what is needed, a stray bullet going into someone elses house.
Or worse yet, killing an innocent by-stander. Or damaging the very property
you are protecting from the intruder. What you seem to not realize is that
when you fire a gun, a bullet comes out, and that bullet (as many a hunter
will tell you!) MUST GO SOMEWHERE. You don't just cap off a few warning 
shots - esp in a neighborhood with lots of other people/houses. In this
case, Hattori did not heed the simple command "FREEZE", nor did he
heed the international sign of stay where you are (namely, a gun pointed
at you!). 

>    Tell him not to kill me, etc...

Beg? BEG? On your OWN property , BEG? for mercy from some intruder who
has been trying to get into your house? And do lord-knows-what with
you and your family? Just give up and surrender so that you preserve the
life of someone who could possibly be trying to kill you? Give me
a break! In order to defend your property, you do NOT give up! In order
to defend the lives of your family, you DO NOT give up! 


>Shinji Kono @           kono@csl.sony.co.jp
>Sony Computer Science Laboratory, Inc,Japan

-Eric