Americans and Their Guns

[PeterRS]

This should perhaps be in the Politics forum but I am today so angry I want it posted where more can see it. If there is one American gun event I remember more than the vast thousands of others during my lifetime, it is not Sandy Hook or other hideous massacres. It is the tragic tale of a 16-year old Japanese exchange student, Yoshiro Hattori. At Halloween in 1992, Hattori was invited to a party for Japanese students. His homestay 'brother' drove him to the party. Hattori was dressed in a white tuxedo  in deference to the character played by John Travolta in the movie Saturday Night Fever. Finding an address with Halloween decorations outside, Hattori and his friend went up and rang the doorbell. It was the wrong address. As there was no response, they were in the act of leaving when the house owner, a 30-year old supermarket butcher named Rodney Peairs, opened the door, a magnum 44 in his hand. He shouted "Freeze". 

Almost certainly unaware what the word "freeze" meant, Hattori turned back to say to Peairs that they were there for the party. Hattori also did not have his contact lenses on that night. He moved towards Peairs. From a distance of just five feet, Peairs shot and killed him. This is where the law in the US appears to me madness! Originally Peairs was not charged with any crime as the Baton Rouge Police Department claimed Peairs had a legal right to shoot a trespasser. Only affter protests from the State Governor and the Japanese Consul was Peairs charged with manslaughter. It gets worse. Even though a police detective admitted in court that Peairs had said to him, "Boy, I messed up; I made a mistake," after a mere three hours deliberation, the jury found Peairs "not guilty".  At an ensuing civil trial, that verdict was overturned and Hattori's parents awarded US$650,000 in compensation.  The Peairs insurance company paid $100,000. Over more than three decades the Peairs have never paid one cent of any of the remainder.

Why do I think of that today? Last Saturday evening a group of young kids were playing a prank in Houston, Texas. I am sure as kids we all played pranks of various descriptions, sometimes annoying those who were the subject of the prank. But virtually always we put it to the back of our minds and just got on with daily life. Last Saturday, the prank was ringing doorbells and then running away quickly. It seems there were three boys, not yet teenagers. After one bell was rung, the kids ran like mad down the street. The houseowner quickly appeared at the door, gun in hand, saw the boys and randomly shot several times. The intent clearly was to kill. An 11-year old boy was shot in the back and died the following day.

The houseowner eventually gave himself up to the police and there is a possibility he will be charged with murder. Several guns were discovered in his home. Irrespective of the charge, in what civilised country in the world are people permitted to own guns and shoot anyone who comes near their front doors without first ascertaining the reason and a reasonable belief that they might come to serious harm? A halloween misunderstanding where the murdered victim is just 16 and has no gun and where the jury has the gall to bring a verdict of "not guilty" and an 11-year old playing a prank are wholly unacceptable circumstances for taking lives - young innocent lives. These are out and out murders which would never occur in most countries. And it is now finally being cited, along with a loathing of Donald Trump and what he, his sanctions and his law & order forces are doing in grabbing innocent people from the streets, as one reason for tourism to the United States starting to fall quite drastically. The US Travel Association estimated that the drop in inbound international travel to the US in March was 14%. The US then had a $50 billion travel trade deficit. 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/11-year-houston-boy-shot-door-knocking-prank/story?id=125141773

https://www.ustravel.org › us-travel-snapshot-april-2025

 

[unicorn]

1 hour ago, PeterRS said:

... Last Saturday evening a group of young kids were playing a prank in Houston, Texas. I am sure as kids we all played pranks of various descriptions, sometimes annoying those who were the subject of the prank. But virtually always we put it to the back of our minds and just got on with daily life. Last Saturday, the prank was ringing doorbells and then running away quickly. It seems there were three boys, not yet teenagers. After one bell was rung, the kids ran like mad down the street. The houseowner quickly appeared at the door, gun in hand, saw the boys and randomly shot several times. The intent clearly was to kill. An 11-year old boy was shot in the back and died the following day...

Well, the man will probably be charged with murder, since the boys were running away. One caveat which one should add to the story was that this prank happened at 11 PM, when one would hope parents would know where an 11 year-old is. Of course, that's no excuse for the heinous murder, although it does give some context. Things also do vary quite a bit from state to state. One has to be especially careful in red states, especially Texas, because anyone can be carrying a concealed weapon, even out in the streets, not to mention in one's own property. In Texas, and some other states, one does not even have to fence one's property or put up No Trespassing signs. All one has to do it slop on some purple paint on a tree every 100 feet (30 meters), or on a post every 1000 feet (300 meters) in unforested land. You cross that, and you may be shot. I stayed at a hotel in a rural area in Texas near Big Bend National Park once, and there was a notice that if a guest were to climb a hill behind the hotel, he could be shot without notice. One does have to be mindful of local laws and customs.

https://www.ktsm.com/news/what-do-purple-fence-posts-mean-in-texas/

If you’re in the woods and come across a purple stripe, whether it be painted on a fence post, tree or somewhere else, you may not know what it means.

While the unusual sight may make a nice backdrop for a photo, it’s also meant to convey an important message.

As fall weather ramps up and hunting season continues, remember that in Texas, a purple stripe means “no trespassing,” so if you see one, don’t go beyond it.

In Texas Penal Code §30.05, if a property is fenced, posted with at least one sign, or marked with purple paint, it is illegal for anyone to enter. The fine or jail time for trespassing in Texas can be up to $2,000 or up to 180 days.

The law specifies the purple marking must consist of “vertical lines no less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width, and the bottom of the mark not less than three nor more than five feet from the ground.” The marking must also be placed at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching the property on trees or posts “no more than 100 feet apart on forest land or 1,000 feet apart on land other than forest land.”

Typical Texas/red state sign:

[unicorn]

Texas welcome sign (ironically, the word "Texas" meant "friend" in some local languages.

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-origin-of-name

"The word texas (tejas, tayshas, texias, thecas?, techan, teysas, techas?) had wide usage among the Indians of East Texas even before the coming of the Spanish, whose various transcriptions and interpretations gave rise to many theories about the meaning. The usual meaning was "friends," although the Hasinais applied the word to many groups-including Caddoan-to mean "allies." The Hasinais probably did not apply the name to themselves as a local group name; they did use the term, however, as a form of greeting: "Hello, friend."..."