Here I Go Again . . .

. . . off on one of my obscure intellectual exercise questions.

Hit & Run asks "Is Shooting Aliens Justifiable Homicide?"

The article isn't about shooting actual aliens, though. Only people you THINK are aliens.

But suppose it was about aliens. Suppose a colony of peaceful aliens lands and attempts to integrate into human society.

Would it be a crime to kill them? To senselessly gun them down, women and children included?

Would it be homicide?

My position is that as the laws are currently written -- no, it would not be homicide.

"Homicide" comes from "homo" (meaning human being) and "cide" (meaning to kill). Aliens are not human beings, so killing them by definition cannot be homicide.

I would think that, following the letter of the law, the worst crime that would apply is Cruelty To Animals.

So, no, Hitters & Runners (and Pitchers & Catchers, for that matter). Shooting aliens is not justifiable homicide.