From: lvc@cbnews.cb.att.com (Larry Cipriani)
Subject: Parents of slain youth continue signature drive in U.S.
Organization: Ideology Busters, Inc.
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:19:45 GMT
Keywords: Yoshihiro Hattori's parents have mush for brains

Copyright 1992 by <UPI>; may not be reproduced without permission.

Reposted with permission from the ClariNet Electronic Newspaper newsgroup
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	TOKYO (UPI) -- The parents of a Japanese exchange student shot dead in
October presented U.S. Ambassador Michael Armacost Tuesday with a
petition calling for tighter gun control laws in the United States.
	Yoshihiro Hattori, 16, of Nagoya, was guned down in a suburb of Baton
Rouge, La., on Oct. 17 after knocking on the wrong door while looking
for a Halloween party.
	His father, Masaichi, and mother, Mieko, collected 800,000 signatures
for the petition with the help of Yoshihiro's high school classmates and
the American Field Service Japan Association Inc., which arranged for
the youth's stay in the United States.
	Yoshihiro apparently failed to understand the command, ``Freeze,''
and a pistol-wielding man thought Hattori and an American friend were
intruders. Rodney Peairs has been indicted on manslaughter charges in
the shooting death of Yoshihiro.
	In the aftermath of the incident, news anchors on all of Japan's
national television networks explained to baffled viewers how the word,
``Freeze,'' can be used to mean, ``Don't move or I'll shoot.''
	Ownership of almost any weapons, including guns, swords and daggers,
is illegal in Japan.
	The Hattoris presented Armacost with a section of the petition
containing 40,000 signatures. Masaichi Hattori said a petition drive has
also been started in the United States.
	He and his wife plan to go to Washington next year to hand over the
rest of the signatures collected in Japan and those from Americans
directly to President-elect Bill Clinton.
	Armacost ``expressed to the Hattoris deep regret, both on behalf of
the American people and as a parent himself, at the tragic death of
their son,'' an embassy spokesperson said.
	He said the petition ``would make a positive contribution to the
debate on gun control in the United States,'' the spokesperson added.
Armacost said he would transmit the petition to the White House via the
Secretary of State.
	The Hattoris have been collecting the signatures at a rate of between
5,000 and 10,000 a day since their son died.
	``Although the Japanese have good feelings toward the Americans, they
might hesitate to go to the United States (because of the Yoshihiro
shooting),'' said his mother prior to leaving her home in Nagoya for the
meeting with Armacost in Tokyo.
	``We want the Americans to discuss whether possessing guns is really
necessary,'' she said.
	Armacost assured the Hattoris the U.S. government would continue to
strive to improve mutual understanding and promote exchanges between
Japan and the United States.
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-- 
Larry Cipriani, att!cbvox1!lvc or lvc@cbvox1.att.com
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns