Moral dilemmas amid societal rebarbarization
The shooter arguably committed murder here, since he was halfway out of the door and could’ve left. The argument could be made that the attacker was on the verge of continuing his attack on other bystanders, though, and so the shooter could possibly be justified. But let’s consider a few hypotheticals: if the man who threw the punch didn’t get shot to death, would he have even been locked up? And if so, for how long? This is Chicago, with one of the highest murder rates in the developed and developing worlds, and it’s due partially to the fact that violent crimes are treated with kid gloves, and the repeat offenders are back on the street within days. So there could be a vigilante defense to this killing as well: how many other people would’ve suffered a sucker punch by this man, had he not been killed? It’s almost a certainty that he would’ve left a long trail of victims. Does that justify his murder? No. Is the city safer now because he’s dead? This ventures into a Punisher-esque, moral gray area. Citizens, however, clearly do not feel safe, and are arming themselves so they can do what the cops and justice system won’t.