There is however Case Studies where the “Castle Doctrine” has been used. Meet 16 yr old Yoshihiro Hattori. Unfortunately, you can’t meet meet Yoshihiro, he is dead.

Two months into his stay in the United States, he received an invitation, along with Webb Haymaker, his homestay brother, to a Halloween party organized for Japanese exchange students on October 17, 1992. Hattori went dressed in a tuxedo in imitation of John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. Upon their arrival in the quiet working class neighborhood where the party was held, the boys mistook the Peairs’ residence for their intended destination due to the similarity of the address and the Halloween decorations on the outside of the house, and proceeded to step out of their car and walk to the front door. (Fujio 2004; Harper n.d.)

Hattori and Haymaker rang the front doorbell but, seemingly receiving no response, began to walk back to their car. Meanwhile, inside the house, their arrival had not gone unnoticed. Bonnie Peairs had peered out the side door and saw them. Mrs. Peairs, startled, retreated inside, locked the door, and said to her husband, “Rodney, get your gun.” Hattori and Haymaker were walking to their car when the carport door was opened again, this time by Mr. Peairs. He was armed with a loaded and cocked .44 magnum revolver. He pointed it at Hattori, and yelled “Freeze.” Simultaneously, Hattori, likely thinking he said “please,” stepped back towards the house, saying “We’re here for the party.” Haymaker, seeing the weapon, shouted after Hattori, but Peairs fired his weapon at point blank range at Hattori, hitting him in the chest, and then ran back inside. (Kernodle 2002; Fujio 2004; Harper n.d.) Haymaker rushed to Hattori, badly wounded and lying where he fell, on his back. Haymaker ran to the home next door to the Peairs’ house for help. Neither Mr. Peairs nor his wife came out of their house until the police arrived, about 40 minutes after the shooting. Mrs. Peairs shouted to a neighbor to “go away” when the neighbor called for help. One of Peairs’ children later told police that her mother asked, “Why did you shoot him?”

The shot had pierced the upper and lower lobes of Hattori’s left lung, and exited through the area of the seventh rib; he died in the ambulance minutes later, from loss of blood.[1]

The end result?

The trial lasted seven days. After the jurors deliberated for three and a quarter hours, Peairs was acquitted.

But that will NEVER happen in Wisconsin right? The Republicans of Wisconsin are so sure about it, they decided that 4 hours of training to carry a gun was way too much!

A Republican-controlled legislative committee has voted to do away with a requirement that that applicants for permits to carry concealed weapons complete four hours of training.

Monday’s vote does away with the rule written by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s Department of Justice for the law that took effect last week.

Van Hollen spoke in support of keeping the four-hour training minimum, saying it was the industry standard and not having it would make it impossible for the DOJ to verify training was completed.

YEE HAW

Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now summed up Sen. Lazich’s partisan hackery thusly:

“Mary Lazich believes that only Republicans should get to vote. She believes that only Republicans should be able to use the recall process. If Mary Lazich thought recall signature notarization was such an issue, she had the last 20 years of her undistinguished career as a state legislator to do something about it. They threatened to recall Democrat Herb Kohl, and nothing from Lazich. They threatened to recall Democrat Russ Feingold, and nothing from Lazich. They threatened to recall Democrat Jim Doyle, and nothing from Lazich. Of all the shrill, partisan hackery from Mary Lazich over the years, and the list is offensively long, this is the penultimate. Mary Lazich wants to save Scott Walker from certain recall and she’ll use the Republican-controlled Legislature to do it. What happened to creating jobs, Mary Lazich?”

Democratic State Senator Chris Larson also blasted Sen. Lazich’s effort to make it harder to recall elected officials in Wisconsin, right calling Lazich’s legislation an effort to “protect Republican’s power grab.”

“By circulating the ‘Protect Republican’s Power Grab’ legislation today, Republicans seem to be more interested in protecting their own jobs than finding jobs for our struggling, unemployed neighbors. This legislation attempts to silence the people’s voice and prevent Wisconsinites from holding their representatives accountable by ensuring that Republicans facing recall can run in their new, gerrymandered districts rather than the districts that elected them to office. The new districts are not supposed to go into effect for elections until the general election in November 2012, but Republicans are trying to push up that date to make their divisive districts effective immediately.

“If you purchase a vacuum at a department store and are unhappy with its performance, you can return it with a receipt. Unfortunately, this legislation is telling Wisconsinites who bought into what was being sold by Republicans in the 2010 elections and are now dissatisfied with the purchase that they cannot make such a return even though they have the Wisconsin Constitution as their receipt.

“Not only is this effort by Republicans to save their own jobs unethical, but it is also unconstitutional. Article XIII, Section 12 of the Wisconsin Constitution states that laws may be enacted to facilitate the operation of recalling elective officers, but no law shall be enacted to hamper, restrict or impair the right of recall.

“The recall process was codified in our state’s constitution not to protect the rights of elected officials, but rather to protect the rights of the electorate to be properly represented. I will continue fighting to protect the rights of people across Wisconsin by upholding our state’s constitution and its provisions related to recall elections.”

While I understand why Mary Lazich wants to make recalls much harder, given the fact that Gov. Scott Walker is facing a tough recall fight, I can’t help but wonder why Sen. Lazich doesn’t care as much about helping create jobs here in Wisconsin.

Instead of trying to make recalls more difficult and holding hearings on traffic roundabouts, perhaps Mary Lazich should focus on trying to help create jobs in Wisconsin, because that’s an issue that’s important right now.

Further, Senator Lazich’s proposal runs counter to virtually every respected study on the subject, which note that only complete and comprehensive sex education can combat the difficult problems of STDs and teen pregnancy.  Yes, teen pregnancy is a problem in Wisconsin, as are STDs.  And Abstinence-only education, which Lazich hopes to foist upon the parents and youth of this state, is a failure, as has been shown time and again.   

Lazich is proposing a failure that produces ZERO jobs in a legislative session the Wisconsin GOP says is designed to focus like a laser on jobs.  Yeah, right. 

Well, my state Senator, Van Wanggaard, claims he is all about jobs, so I challenge him to back off from supporting this legislation, else provide fuel for his recall.  What do you say, Van?  Are you for jobs or for special interests? 

In today’s Badger Herald:

Sen. Mary Lazich, R-Waukesha, and Rep. Mark Honadel, R-Milwaukee, authored a bill that would prohibit tricking the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone they are not for malicious purposes.

“While use of spoofing is said to have some legitimate uses, it can also be used to frighten, harass and potentially defraud,” Lazich and Honadel said in an e-mail to legislators.

The bill language forbids a caller from intentionally providing a false phone number and convincing the person receiving the call that it comes from someone other than the actual caller.

The bill would make it illegal to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain any information of value from using a caller identification service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information. It would also prohibit individuals from masking their voices or providing a fake phone number to the call recipient, said Jason Vick, spokesperson for Honadel.

Looks like Moe Slezak will be able to run his business in peace from now on. Thanks Mary Lazich!

Are all the venues in Brookfield, Elm Grove, Wauwatosa and West Allis booked for months? Probably not.

Then why Muskego? Here’s my perspective:

Vukmir is known as a rising star for the Tea Party base(s) in Wisconsin, and generally appears at such functions. The Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty, the area Tea Party organization, is based in Muskego’s suburban neighbor, Franklin (also in Lazich’s district). Could it be that Vukmir is aiming to appeal to the GrandSons of Liberty by bringing her fundraiser so close to their homes?

I wonder of State Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) or her aide, Kevin Fischer, will be in attendance for Vukmir’s event as well. Muskego is in Lazich’s senate district afterall, and Lazich could take advantage of the event by gaining more supporters and possible volunteers. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone, Democrat or Republican, plans to take Lazich on when she’s up for re-election. There is a growing frustration about her decision-making from more than just Democrats. Lazich will need all the help she can get if she lands an opponent…especially a Republican or Tea Party challenger.