Utah’s recent execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner was national news. This was the first time an American inmate was executed by firing squad in 14 years. The great irony is that Michael Burdell, who was murdered by Gardner, did not support the death penalty, and would not have wanted the state of Utah to kill Gardner.

What type of society do we live in where a well-trained lawyer, opposed to the death penalty, is shot to death, and the masses demand capital punishment?

It is hard to see how this response to violence with violence is just. Utah’s quest for blood should not have trumped the moral code of the victim. This is a sad reflection on the state of our citizenry.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tweeted hours before the government shooting that “Utah will use the most extreme power & execute a killer.” Government killing is extreme. Simply put, “extreme” means beyond what is accepted or best. Someone who “goes to the extreme” is acting in a dangerous and irrational manner. Extreme use of government power, even in response to extremity, threatens democracy.

The Declaration of Independence states that all Americans have a natural right to life. Failure to respect this right is oppressive, no matter how despicable someone behaves. Yet, thousands of innocent people have been executed in American history. The rest of Western civilization has banned capital punishment because it is viewed as barbaric, imprudent, and immoral.

We teach our children that killing is wrong while perpetuating multiple categories where it is condoned, acceptable, and even praised. The construction and application of ethical or moral principles is no simple matter. Still, the most educated and powerful among us today have trouble seeing the logical tension, if not hypocrisy, of killing people to demonstrate that killing is wrong.

The record is clear that Michael Burdell would have wanted no more shooting and killing. This would have been the “least extreme” way to honor his memory. Instead, another shooting and killing was carried out in his name. Now, more than ever, we need to rethink our violent conceptions of justice or government’s extreme use of power will continue to prevail.

This column is solely the analysis and perspective of the author and in no way reflects the viewpoints of his employer or this newspaper.