Another week, another innocent victim gunned down by a violent perpetrator who "feared for their life". Fast forward a year or two, and another criminal will walk free to kill again.
Something important bears mention in all of this. Searching through English common law, you will find ample mention of the insanity defense: that a lack of cognition and competency would suggest leniency in sentencing. Nowhere however will you find mention of the fearfulness defense: that the mere state of being afraid of someone or something completely justifies criminal behavior. That is because such legal precedent quite simply does not exist. If an emotional state could be said to excuse any and every action under the Sun, the rule of law, and with it both peace and prosperity, would be in serious jeopardy, as people commit heinous acts of violence fueled by anger, sadness, fear, jealousy, and other strong emotions on a daily basis.
So in essence, fear justifies nothing. It never has, and never will. If anything, fear is a sign of culpability, and not innocence, for a person's fearful state of mind reveals that they are expecting retaliation for some past grievance they either directly caused or have indirectly benefited from. For example, Dr Mengele, the Angel of Death who experimented on German minorities during World War II, lived the rest of his life in terror, afraid that he would be tracked down and made to pay for his crimes against humanity.
The broken and backwards legal system we currently live under clearly disagrees with the above truths. I find that to be unfortunate. But given that there is not much I or anyone else can do to restore sanity to the American Justice System, I'm content to simply call it corrupt and move on with my own life. And if some foolish whelp out there is rendered fearful by my opinions, and tracks me down to eliminate the imagined threat I pose to them, I can only hope that our Justice System is not so lost as to confuse premeditated murder with self-defense. Because if so, the country I once knew will be like a dead and desiccated tree branch lying on the forest floor, devoid of life, and destined only to be collected as kindling for the fire.
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