Where Is The Deterence?
The information is rushing in about the man who went on the worst mass shooting in US history. The shooting was planned out and executed to perfection by the killer with the thought that the body count would be large.
One wonders what he was thinking as he planned the attack. Was he considering what the consequences of his actions would be? With the willingness to give up without a fight to police, it is noted that he was not interested in going out in a hail of gunfire. Suicide by police it seems was not an option. If he wanted to do himself in he had the time. Given the fact that he was fully body armored it seems as though he would want a showdown with police, but he waited in his parked car and surrendered without struggle.
Why? What is the ultimate goal? What would possess him to try and kill dozens?
I think the real question should be, what would have stopped him? What punishment could carry enough weight to change the man’s mind?
I suggest a death penalty that is carried out in days, not years. What civil rights does a person have when he violates the rights of others to live. He has been arrested and proven to be the shooter. I am sure he has confessed or gone silent. But without a doubt he is guilty. So why go through the process of the court system? He had rights…before the shooting.
I say he has waived those rights and has decided to be judged by the only being that can dole out true justice, and that is his maker. Let God decide what to do with him, which means put the man down immediately.
Lets look at another twisted mind. Tuscon shooter Jared Lee Loughner. Witnesses have named him as the killer and he has confessed.
Jared Loughner has not even seen his day in court yet. His lawyers are running through the various pleas and legal bullshit to keep the man alive. He killed a judge, a six-year-old girl, and four other souls, he damn near killed a congresswoman and wounded thirteen others. So how does this legal haranguing deter the next killer?
If James Holmes decides that he can have his media moment to make whatever point he was trying to make, and knows that he will live for years in jail awaiting his judgment then what could have possibly stopped him. Jared Loughner still awaits his sentencing and in the meantime taxpayers pay to feed, clothe, house, and pay for attorneys and for what? He has killed and taken others civil rights, he has none left, he gave up his rights to due process or any other legal action. So why wait?
Killers must consider the punishment if and when caught. And if the punishment is no media, no attorney, no insane plea, nothing but the punishment that fits the crime….and is swift…within two days. That will deter the next James Holmes and Jared Loughner. Put them to death within days of their attacks, without fanfare or media circus. They do not get the opportunity to have a day in court and rant about whatever injustices they believe have been inflicted on them. That would be a deterent.
Many scream for gun laws, that would be the ticket, yeah, tougher gun laws. Problem is, if someone wants to get a gun, they can get a gun, period. All the laws we have against illegal drugs does not seem to stop the….ya know…illegal drugs.
Would the potential for swift death stop the likes of these individuals? I don’t know. What I do think is that arming yourself to the teeth and shooting into a defensless position is about a cowardly as it gets, and cowards are usually afraid to die. So in my mind, yes, if they thought that they would be put to death within days of arrest they would definitely reconsider the act. Maybe enough to change their minds completely. That is all we could really ask for is it not?