Killing The Wrong People?

A news article on Complete Colorado's website today featured a grieved mother who was angry with police in Aurora, CO for killing her son.  She states that "they killed the wrong person" after they fired at a man brandishing a gun at them after a robbery.  This "innocent man" was good, was going to be a chef, had hopes for his life.  Too bad the lone gunman had just committed a robbery then, and was waving a gun at police!

We often hear the stories of those who were wrongfully convicted of crimes, or those who were innocent bystanders and victims of violence.  We also know that jails and prisons are full of people who state they were framed, wrongfully convicted, and didn't do the crimes.  Overwhelming evidence proves otherwise, and the blue line of law enforcement does it's job remarkably well despite being hated and maligned in this "perpertrator-friendly world."

So let's ask the question.  Although we realize mistakes can be made, are we killing the wrong people?  Are the wrong people in jail today?  The majority of the time, we can resoundingly respond with an bold "no" to this question.  We see victims played on news cameras, hear their pathetic accusations in newsprint, and see crime scenes depicted as places of terror.  This subtle attempt to challenge authority at this level is played out day after day.  However, Sam Hill believes that the majority of the time law enforcement does a wonderful job.  They stand between perpetrators and citizens on a daily basis, doing a thankless job.

These people should know better than to wave a gun at a police officer.  While we are sorry for the mother of the slain son, we also realize she should know better.  Perhaps if she had trained her son to respect authority in the first place, he wouldn't be dead now, would he.  But because she didn't do her job, an officer of the law had to do his.