Guns, Honest Belief, Bullies, and Murder

My former state of residence, Kansas, made page 2 of the Akron Beacon Journal this morning with a story and photo of Scott Roeder. Roeder is on trial in Wichita for walking into a church on a Sunday May 31, 2009, pulling out a gun, and murdering Dr. George Tiller all in the name of preserving life. Tiller was one of the few doctors in the country who practiced late-term abortions and apparently Roeder believes that was justification enough for him to walk into Tiller's house of worship and to kill the man in front of his family and friends.

Roeder's defense team is predictably expected to argue for the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter rather than pre-meditated murder. Even though prior to May 31 Roeder made a trip from Kansas City to Wichita, a journey of 200 miles, in order to locate Tiller's church and determine when Tiller would serve as a church usher and thus insure his attendance, the defense will ask us to believe Roeder's actions were not pre-meditated. Rather, they will ask us to believe that Roeder is guilty of nothing more than voluntary manslaughter, which, in Kansas, is defined as "an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force." I have spent the day trying to make sense of this definition.

I wrote in an earlier posting that Roeder is an ideologue and how that ideologues are defined by their emotional rather than rational decision making processes. I have no doubt that Roeder honestly believes that his use of deadly force is justified, but however unreasonable I and others may find Roeder's belief to be, the state of Kansas may hold him accountable to a lesser charge because of the honesty of Roeder's belief. It seems to me that such a decision would declare open hunting season for every unreasonable person out there with a sincere conviction that someone they have a beef with deserves to die. Combine such a legal precedent with the easy availability of guns in this country and you can see why I am feeling sick.

I believe that Scott Roeder and his ilk are nothing more than bullies: unreasonable people who resort to intimidation when they do not get their way. Bullies are also cowards who are afraid of their impotence and pointing a gun at someone supposedly makes a person feel pretty damn powerful. Our laws make it way too easy for unreasonable people to feel so empowered.

I applaud the District Attorney, Nola Foulston, for charging Roeder with pre-meditated murder and I wish her every success in gaining a conviction on that charge. I hope that the state of Kansas and other states with similar definitions of voluntary manslaughter will take steps to change this wording so as to protect their citizens in the courts, but also to protect them in their daily lives through tougher restrictions on handgun possession.