Joseph Kalani Hatchie was the architect of his own tragic and violent end.

Law enforcement authorities must diligently investigate Hatchie’s shooting death on Monday, but unless they find startlingly new information, it is immaterial that he had only an unloaded pellet gun when he tried to rob Lew’s Smokeshop in Stateline, Idaho.

The death is the more woeful because Hatchie had no criminal record and, by family members’ accounts, had been a responsible husband, father and neighbor who found himself out of work and facing serious financial difficulties, including an impending eviction.

Desperation drove him to a foolish and irreversible act of lawlessness – a decision for which Hatchie alone is responsible.

The clerk who found himself in the sights of Hatchie’s gun Monday evening seems to have acted reasonably, given the stressful circumstances. He drew his own handgun from under the counter and shot Hatchie 10 times. Hatchie’s grieving mother has wondered if 10 shots was excessive, and maybe it was, but one can hardly expect a person in those circumstances to pause after each shot and reassess the threat.

That there was no threat from an unloaded air pistol doesn’t matter. Hatchie deliberately created an illusion of lethal danger, to which the clerk (whose store had been held up twice before in recent years) responded.

Coincidentally, a similar incident had played out that same morning at a home in northwest Spokane. A resident there, awakened by intruders, grabbed his 9 mm handgun and confronted a couple of thugs, one of whom urged the other to go after the resident with a baseball bat. Before that could happen, Bob Boisjolies says, he fired at one of the burglars and they fled, leaving a splatter of blood on the screen door.

Expect these incidents to revive the debate between gun-rights advocates, who say being armed is an effective way to protect yourself from criminals, and gun-control advocates, who cite gun-related tragedies in the home as evidence that private firearms do more harm than good. The events of Dec. 26 are also likely to be recounted in Olympia, where the Washington Legislature will soon consider a bill making it easier to claim self-defense if you shoot an assailant.

Let’s hope lawmakers avoid the temptation of framing their deliberation as a contest between civil rights and the Second Amendment. Better that they focus on a fundamental principle of personal accountability.

Society would be better off with fewer handguns floating around, but law-abiding citizens should nevertheless be able to use lethal force if necessary to protect themselves and their families. The law should not condone vigilante responses that go further than needed for protection of self and property, although such a distinction is easier stated in print than recognized in action.

Drawing fine points is one of the Legislature’s duties. The law should honor life while holding individuals responsible for the choices they make as free citizens.