Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : Applauding a Killer? It Defies Decency

Maybe a heavy sigh of relief or even a happy smile.

But a wild outburst of applause, as news reports of the courtroom scene in Baton Rouge, La., stated?

Wild applause for someone accused of killing a 16-year old boy? (A killing that the accused readily admitted.)

Perhaps the mentality of the 12 persons who sat on the jury that acquitted Rodney Peairs of killing Japanese exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori belonged in the same “wild applause” category.

At best, the reaction of the crowd in the courtroom was distasteful, when the father of the victim sat listening to the decision that freed the killer without so much as a slap on the wrist.

Of course, perhaps we don’t understand Louisiana law regarding the discharging of a firearm.

In California, if I shot a person who rang my doorbell and that person was still standing outside my house, I would most certainly be charged with a felony.

In fact, if a robber came into my house, held me up and then took off with my valuables, I would still be charged with a crime if I got my gun and shot him as he ran.

I can understand the anger of the Japanese people that this tragedy took place--then to have it compounded by the acquittal of Peairs. However, the reported 1 million Japanese people who signed a petition asking the U.S. for stricter gun control will get very little satisfaction.

Every week in the Los Angeles area alone, dozens of people are killed by guns. One recent weekend, we had 18 people killed.

Yet if someone passed around petitions for stricter gun control in Los Angeles, it would be difficult to get a million people to sign it.

Unfortunately, Americans grew up with guns from the days of the Old West when everyone had a six-shooter strapped to their waist. As kids, we grew up idolizing Buck Jones and Tom Mix, fictional cowboys with the quick draw. And there were real-life gunslingers like Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp. Those who argue against anti-gun laws will tell you that the U.S. Constitution gives them the right to bear arms.

Finally, if Peairs had shot an American teen-ager under the same scenario, the incident would have passed without so much as a passing mention on the back pages of the Baton Rouge newspaper.

When the near-record 18 people were killed one weekend in the Los Angeles area, the report of the incidents appeared in the Metro section of The Times. It didn’t even make the front news section.

The other facet of the law in which the U.S. and Japan differ is that in the U.S. you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. In Japan, it’s the other way around. One is presumed guilty and he must prove himself innocent.