The governement has no business enforcing the death penalty

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  Mostly because I have been an ardent supporter of capital punishment.

Don't get me wrong.  I have no doubt in my mind that some scumball who goes around causing harm and death to innocent people has got it coming.  In fact,  I think that such a person, upon threatening to take someone's life has pretty much given up their own right.

However.  In one of our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, we are said to recognize as a country that all men are created equal and that we observe three inalienble rights.  Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That right there tells us that the state, the government, does not have the authority or right to take a person's life.  Period.

Having said that.  This makes the Second Amendment all the more important.  Because if we are to defend ourselves properly from such scum of the earth then we must have the ability to do so.

Remember, police departments are not here to intervene.  They exist to do prevention and "clean up" after the events have taken place.  It is up to each one of us to see to our own protection and defense.

If criminal A comes up to person B and pulls out a gun, threatening to shoot them and person B pulls out their own gun in self defense.  If criminal A should happen to shoot first or make person B they are going to shoot, and person B responds by shooting Criminal A, then Criminal A got what they had coming to them and their death is a result of their own actions coming from another citizen, NOT the state.

So, as much as I may not like it,  I have to respect the Founding Documents and recognize that the government does NOT have the authority or right to execute anybody.

That doesn't mean prisons have to be pleasant or that citizens should not be ready to defend themselves with lethal force if necessary.  All the more so in fact.