Devastating Colorado Shooting is the Consequence of being Soft on Crime
On Saturday evening, a 22-year-old man walked into Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, and killed five people with what was described to police as a long-barrel rifle. 25 people have been injured. Police have identified the suspect, who is in custody, as Anderson Lee Aldrich. Authorities have not released Aldrich’s mug shot, any scheduled court appearances, or court documents at this time.
Many people in the online community have criticized the justice system’s response to this tragic event, given that the suspect has an extensive criminal record. Just one year prior to this incident, Aldrich was arrested for 2 counts of felony menacing, and 3 counts of first-degree kidnapping. Instead of being imprisoned on felony charged, Aldrich was able to not only able to attain a firearm but then used that firearm to take five innocent lives and harm many others.
For context, first degree kidnapping Colorado can warrant up to “24 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000″ event if the victim was unharmed, or “Up to 48 years in prison if you used, or you possessed and threatened the use of, a deadly weapon; Up to life in prison if the kidnapping victim was injured.”
“A press release from the Sheriff’s Office on June 18, 2021, stated, ‘The reporting party said her son was threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition. The reporting party was not in the home at the time when she made the call and was not sure where her son was.'”
Fox 31 — Colorado
Aldrich was charged by police for his actions, but was not sentenced accordingly. The Colorado Springs district attorney’s office “declined to bring formal charges in the wake of the 2021 bomb-threat incident, and the court records for the case were placed under seal” according to the Washington Post.
Convicted felons in the United States are not permitted to purchase or possess a firearm for any reason, but all information available appears to allege that Aldrich was not formally convicted of a crime.
This is yet another tragic example of what happens when communities decide to allow criminals to walk or hand out incredibly light sentencing, thereby giving them a “second chance” — usually in the name of equity. This is a severe problem plaguing cities like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Memphis, Portland, and many more. There are numerous examples of this failed ideology, that in order to pursue individual outcome equality, criminals need to be shown grace instead of being harshly punished for their violent outbursts. This creates unsafe communities, victimizing every law-abiding citizen living there.
Sentencing criminals according the the crimes committed is the only way to ensure that dangerous offenders are not roaming the streets of whichever liberal city they call home looking for their next target. Additionally, harsh criminal punishment is the best way to discourage crime in the first place. Actions have consequences, when they don’t, chaos ensues. It’s about time that left-wing ideologues caught on before more innocent people are hurt as a result.
