Justifiable Homicide?

Yesterday, I posted my entry, "Friends", both here and at EFX. This entry generated a fair amount of comments on each site. One comment I got on EFX disturbed me enough to devote a follow-up entry to what he said.

I originally said:

...some of these guys, knowing my penchant for tomcatting, didn't want me around once they got married, for fear I'd seduce their wives. Smart men, as that's exactly what I'd do given the opportunity -- and did several times.

His reply in reference to this:

I'd be a little careful about seducing a friends(sic) wife though. Here's honesty for you; if it were me and my wife, and I found out or worse caught you, I'd shoot you first and her second!

This level of overreaction both baffles me, and it aptly illustrates just how evil and corrosive an emotion jealousy is. I can understand he'd not be happy with the situation, as not everyone is like me, but to resort to murder? Is this something worth throwing one's entire life away over?

I find the idea that one person can so completely own another person, sexually and otherwise, that murder seems like an appropriate remedy for a "property violation" to be repulsive beyond belief. I believe that every person belongs entirely to themselves, and it's completely up to them if they choose to voluntarily restrict their own freedom, as in a monogamous relationship. Doing so never means that person has ceded ownership of themselves in any way to their spouses, however.

I've heard of a few murder trials where the husband killed an straying spouse and/or her lover where the judge publicly commiserated with the defendant husband, actually apologizing for having to enforce the law, admitting they'd do the same thing under the same circumstances! I've also heard of such cases being thrown out of court as "justifiable homicide".

This just boggles my mind. There's no excuse or justification for such murders. There are several possible options for appropriate remedies in such a situation, some practical, some legal: acceptance, separation, divorce, counseling, to name a few. All of these recognize the truth, that, even in marriage, each person still owns their own body and what they do with it.

As for the lover in such a situation, it's not up to me to police another person's marriage for them. If they're willing and I'm willing, it's on them if they break their contract; I'm certainly not going to say no if it's offered. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything. This may be an amoral viewpoint, but so be it.

(Goes to put on asbestos underwear).