Photo/Illutration Mieko and Masaichi Hattori, bottom right, pose for a photo with students at a meeting in Nagoya on Oct. 9 to mark the 30th anniversary of their son’s tragic death in the U.S. state of Louisiana. (Yoshinori Doi)

Thirty years after their teenage son was shot and killed by a homeowner in the United States, the student's parents are ending their three-decade effort to prevent such tragedies from occurring again.

Masaichi Hattori, 75, and his wife, Mieko, 74, are retiring from the front lines of gun control activism in which their tireless work made a difference in the campaign. 

Their commitment started after their son, Yoshihiro, was shot and killed on Oct. 17, 1992, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Yoshihiro was 16 and a second-year student at Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka Senior High School in Nagoya.

Two months before the shooting, Yoshihiro went abroad to study in the southern U.S. state.

On the evening of Oct. 17, 1992, Yoshihiro was supposed to go to a Halloween party. But he and a friend went to the wrong address.

A man who was at the front door shot Yoshihiro, who was dressed up for Halloween. It is believed that Yoshihiro mistakenly heard the homeowner's order to “freeze” as “please.”

It was a Sunday afternoon in Japan and Masaichi Hattori was staying at home alone. The phone rang and he was told, “Yoshihiro-san has been shot.”

The tragedy was widely reported around the world.

“Hatred will not bring back our son,” his parents thought. “We have no choice but to do what we think our son would do.”

They chose the path of asking American citizens to support stricter gun controls.

They collected about 1.8 million signatures in a petition drive and met then U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1993 at the White House. 

Their effort is believed to have helped passage of the Brady law in 1993, which mandated background checks and waiting times for gun buyers. 

After Yoshihiro’s death, his parents established a group called Yoshi-no-kai to host lectures and other avenues to advocate gun control.

They also established a fund named after Yoshihiro to accept students from the United States. So far, the fund has welcomed 31 students to study in Japan.

But tragedies involving gun violence have never stopped occurring in the United States.

In June, President Joe Biden signed into law the first major gun control bill in nearly three decades, but it is a far cry from what Masaichi wants.

“It is irritating,” he said. 

On Oct. 9, the Yoshi-no-kai held a meeting in Nagoya.

The Hattoris announced there that they have found some sense of closure in their 30 years of activism and will pass the torch to the next generation.

Many people, including an American high school student who is studying in Japan and the former head of a U.S. gun control group, expressed appreciation to the couple.

The Hattoris said, “We have worked hard because we hate to see our son’s life go to waste.”

“Nothing will change unless we do something. I hope more and more young people will become involved in believing that they can change the world.”

The Hattoris said they will focus more on operating the exchange student fund from now on.

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