Me saying "as a survivor of politically motivated gun violence" is starting to feel like Mitnik saying, "when I was in prison."

But yeah, I have some thoughts... Especially approaching the anniversary of me being shot by a Trump supporter as Trump gets ready to enter office again.

I'm one of the few folks who has resisted the use of the putative legal system against someone who shot me, and so I can be consistent in saying that the punitive legal system shouldn't be used against Luigi Mangione. Not that it matters... It shouldn't be necessary to prove anything to criticize the violence of punitive "justice."

In a very real way these two incident are as similar as they are different. One might assume I would empathize with Brian Thompson and his family, rather than having empathy and compassion, in both cases, for the shooter. It's easy for me to understand, in both cases, the rage that lead these folks to take action, even if I disagree with being shot myself and generally would prefer other folks not being shot as well. I will, in the case of Robin Hoodie, not condemn the shooting. I may have critiques of violence, but I also believe in a diversity of tactics... Including those I wouldn't recommend or participate in myself.

I understand the rage of powerlessness. I understand that being so powerful that you want to lash out and destroy anything that you believe is causing it. In the case of Luigi, he actually did it. The biggest difference is that his rage was paired with a competence and capability that is hard to achieve without the type of massive privilege he grew up with.

If Luigi actually is the shooter, which is not actually clear (regardless of what cops who are paid to lie and who often plant evidence say), then it's worth noticing that his actions saved lives. People received lifesaving treatments when they would have otherwise been denied. It prompted people to share strategies for dealing with health insurance. It shined a spotlight on an atrocity, the systematic torture and murder of untold numbers of people for profit. Ethical frameworks exist to help us make decisions between bad things, such as murder at different scales. It's hard to condemn Luigi under any ethical framework.

It's even harder when we factor in the fact that justice was not possible *within* the system. How can any who was unable to find justice within the system be blamed for trying to get it outside the system? The solution is not to punish, but to create a pathway to justice. This is the same reason we should demand freedom for Peltier, Mumia, and all other political prisoners.

Prison serves two purposes, depending on who you ask. The first is punishment. Punishment for what? For shooting someone who caused massive harm and saving the lives of a bunch of people? People tend to be rewarded for such actions. People who do that are heros.

The second is protection. Healthcare CEOs definitely need protection from people like him, but why? Because they are committing atrocities. They should live in fear. The solution is to fix the system so they aren't rewarded for committing atrocities. Protect them by fixing the system. It's pretty simple. If we fix the system, who would imprisoning Luigi protect then? No one.

There is no value in prison, except to perpetuate the suffering that enraged him enough to kill.

Luigi Mangione should receive a Hunter Biden pardon, for anything he did or may have done in the last year... And we should be in the streets demanding #FreeLuigi every day until that happens.
#FreeLuigiMangione