END DUE PROCESS -- WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Seven people were killed at a Fourth of July shooting in Illinois this week, and a young Federalist editor named Kylee Griswold has a brilliant idea for what to do with the shooter:

You Know What Would Deter More Shootings Than Red Flag Laws? Executing Mass Killers Quickly

Griswold writes:

If the latest shooting taught us anything about guns, it’s that even tightly restricting them doesn’t deter killers.

(But guns weren't tightly restricted in this case. The shooter had demonstrated to the police and to his family that he was a threat to himself and others, but because he didn't have guns precisely when police were summoned to deal with him, he was able to purchase guns later, because the allegedly tight restrictions in Illinois gun laws are actually quite porous.)

It’s time for a new approach, and this case presents the perfect set of circumstances to justify it. The Highland Park shooter should be executed, and he should be executed quickly.

... he ... already told police he’s the shooter. And if his confession of guilt weren’t enough, he also admitted that he almost attacked another July Fourth celebration in Madison, Wisconsin, but decided against it because he just hadn’t had enough time to plan out a murderous scheme.

... it isn’t the mere execution of a known mass murderer that deters other disturbed individuals from shooting up jubilant innocents. The reality of taxpayer-funded eons on death row wouldn’t appear to have any concrete deterrent effect, much like lengthy incarceration. But what about a visual representation of this chilling message: You will be caught, and you will be put to death — soon. Certainty and swiftness accomplished.

Genius! Um ... except for one problem: Nearly half of all mass shooters die at the end of their crimes. They either kill themselves or commit "suicide by cop." Jillian Peterson, a criminologist, recently told Politico,

I don’t think most people realize that these are suicides, in addition to homicides. Mass shooters design these to be their final acts.... They are going in to be killed.

Also, if right-wing shitposters like Griswold get their way and we end due process for mass shooters, that won't be the end of it, right? We'll probably be on a slippery slope, and soon we'll be eliminating due process for any violation of the law, real or alleged, by anyone right-wingers don't like. (I should note that America has already eliminated due process for Black people charged with minor traffic violations, and is in the process of eliminating it for left-wingers who demonstrate anywhere near where a right-winger is driving.)

I know that "slippery slope" is a concept the right uses to describe what might happen to Americans' rights if even the most trivial of gun laws is passed. In fact, we banned assault wepaons a while back and the ban expired -- not only wasn't that slope slipery, but the gun community climbed right back up the slope and is now in the process of adding whole new classes of gun rights, nationwide and in just about every red or purple state. If there's slipperiness on this slope, it goes uphill.