| > | | | | be alive today. Peairs had probably seen Dirty Harry in |
| Looking for a Halloween party, Japanese exchange | | | | action. Perhaps he fantasized about helping to rid |
| student Yoshihiro Hattori went to the wrong home. He | | | | America of crime. Hattori paid the price. |
| rang the bell only to be greeted by a Dirty Harry | | | | Japan is not 100% free of guns, but it is very close. |
| wannabe with a .44 magnum revolver with a laser | | | | Some hunters have guns and some of the yakuza, |
| sight. Hattori became yet another victim of American | | | | who are Japanese gangsters, have guns, but the |
| gun culture. | | | | average citizen in Japan is highly unlikely to see a gun |
| Yoshihiro Hattori was looking for a Halloween party. | | | | or be injured by one. Japanese live in much greater |
| Hattori was a Japanese exchange student studying in | | | | danger of choking to death on some rice product, not |
| Louisiana. He drove with his homestay brother to the | | | | exactly a death that strikes fear into the Japanese |
| wrong home, that of Rodney and Bonnie Peairs. | | | | heart. Japanese often imagine that all Americans have |
| Rodney Peairs, a gainfully employed butcher, stepped | | | | guns. While this is obviously false, enough of the wrong |
| outside of his home, armed with a .44 magnum | | | | people have guns. |
| revolver with a laser sight. Peairs either felt threatened | | | | The NRA says that when guns are outlawed, only |
| by a Japanese high school student in a tuxedo or | | | | outlaws will have guns. While Americans are divided on |
| wanted to try out his gun. Peairs said, "Freeze." Hattori | | | | this statement, Japanese are not. Japan is not |
| apparently did not understand and walked toward | | | | problem-free, but guns are not a problem worth |
| Peairs. Peairs shot and killed Hattori. | | | | mentioning. The people of Japanese seem perfectly |
| Newspapers and talk shows in Japan and America | | | | content with an almost gun free society. Still, many |
| repeated again and again that Hattori would have | | | | Japanese are in love with America and the freedom |
| been alive if he had understood the word "freeze," but | | | | and individuality America represents to them. Some of |
| the problem was not linguistics. Hattori failed to | | | | them travel to America and find death instead of |
| understand that you should normally stop moving when | | | | freedom. Hattori was neither the first nor the last |
| you see someone with a gun. Do not walk toward | | | | Japanese to die a violent death in America. |
| them. Language is not relevant. This, however, was | | | | American movies are popular in Japan, including Clint |
| certainly no excuse for Peairs, a supermarket butcher, | | | | Eastwood movies. A generation of Japanese and |
| to kill a high school student who had come to America | | | | Americans watched Dirty Harry movies with |
| to study English. We certainly cannot blame Hattori for | | | | fascination and applause, entertained by Clint |
| his death, even though he made a fatal mistake. We | | | | Eastwood as Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry may not have |
| cannot expect him to think that ringing the wrong | | | | played by the rules, but he never shot the wrong man. |
| doorbell will result in a butcher shooting him with a .44 | | | | Peairs, a butcher in more ways than one, did. |
| magnum. | | | | Japan was outraged and couldn't understand. Many |
| Peairs's .44 magnum revolver was the gun popularized | | | | Americans were outraged again over a needless gun |
| by Dirty Harry, who described the gun as "the most | | | | death as they had been before and would be again. |
| powerful handgun in the world". Dirty Harry was holding | | | | Still, gun deaths continue in America as guns are easy |
| this gun when he said, "Make my day." A butcher | | | | for anyone to buy legally or illegally. The issue is how |
| working in a supermarket has little need for such a gun. | | | | much carnage we will see before the United States |
| Few Americans need such a gun, but they are easily | | | | has the desire and the will to stop these gun deaths. |
| available in America. If they were not, Hattori might still | | | | |