I think the bigger question is going to be how our society is going to handle the mad amongst us. We certainly didn't have a pretty track record of handling mental defect in the past, but we have gone into Pontius Pilatus mode about the issue in modern times. That's gonna have to change or we have to accept the inherent cost of sitting next to the disconnected cannibal who does not live in the same layer of morality as you assume all your fellow Americans live in. It's just that simple.
My family has close friends with people who live and manage mental disease, but these are people who haven't tried to hurt others. But the mentally unfit who DO prey on the society at large is an ethical/moral question that we have to come to a consensus about.
This Country has some serious discussing to do when it comes to how to handle the "probative value" of keeping these sleeper cell mentally ill from meeting their Maker sooner. My contention is that as slippery slopeish as this may be, at some point the violent sociopathic amongst us outright cease to provide any social benefit and the preservation of life and safety of those who do provide value to society and do not seek to randomly eliminate their neighbor, do hold higher privilege. Yep, I said it. Our society is not of equals. It never has been.
And look, if the concept of execution is not acceptable to the majority, then sure I have no problem accounting, as a society, for the cost associated with marginalizing these individuals from the greater pool of society for the duration of a natural life cycle. Allowing them to continue to impart harm on the innocent for the sake of the preservation of a perception of civil liberty at large is not probative enough for me to consider it acceptable. All the gun talk and monday morning quarterbacking going on is immaterial. The issue at large has no bearing or hope of being corrected by a visceral tangential discussion on ownership of shiny powder bang bang thingys boys and some girls like to shoot at paper targets, critters and who daydream about saving the day one day with. This is a mental health issue at large, NOT a gun ownership issue, even when juxtaposed with the 100 round magazine bit, which I do admit as a neutral observer of the gun discussion I about fell outta my chair when I read.
I have no moral dilemma with marginalizing the criminally insane. And I do think as Americans we love sinning by omission and claiming no social responsibility. Virginia Tech, Columbine, the Gifford shooting, this one, all were surrounded by members of society who opted to look the other way. I know we are a Country of immigrant opportunists and free-range seeking nomads, but at some point we have to claim some responsibility for the ills of our collective apathy and self-interest. Otherwise we give credence to the idiots pushing forth the relative benefits of tribal societies, constructs that should have died off in the 10th century and only survives today due to natural resource monopolies (mere political lines that could again be re-drawn for them but I'll digress before this gets any more touchy).
Real tragedy. We live under the unintended consequences of our apathy though...
