The couple had more plans to attack a courthouse, the civilian victim may have deterred that attack should the two used Walmart to get away. Which if it is as crowded as most Walmarts would be tactical place to do that. So he may have saved the lives at the courthouse, but I do not think from witness reports the two had any intention of killing what they saw as innocent citizens.
What they did was very very wrong, but let's not stretch it past what it was, a attack on police officers. Which many criminals feel it is justified even though they do not justify harming the public at large. The problem we are having is that people are frustrated with police abuse, while most would never do such a thing, these two were nut cases. Only a small percentage of police are abusive, and that does not justify taking it out on good cops.
The way to stop police abuse is not by violence, but pressure on the courts and the politicians.
The courts and politicians rely on police authoritarianism, if not violence, to uphold the "system"; their livelihoods depend on it. The politicians rely on the "I'm a law-and-order, tough-on-crime, guy; so, re-elect me and I'll keep you safe." The judges rely on the same mindset to get appointed to the bench by the politicians or elected by the public.
I am not saying all police officers are violent and/or authoritarian, or extreme. I certainly don't know if Officers Beck and Soldo were, nor do I have any reason to believe they were. However, it doesn't matter at this point. What matters is that two human beings, who I am sure helped/protected their fair share of people, were murdered. As police officers on the front line, and as human beings, they deserve our respect and regret for what happened to them, and their families.
Mr. Wilcox also needs to be recognized for the bravery he demonstrated. The left and gun confiscation fascists will use this incident as another springboard to cry out for more "gun control" measures. However, Mr. Wilcox demonstrates to the sane that not every person outside law enforcement who carries a weapon in public is a threat to society, bound to start spraying bullets at innocent people in large crowds. The fact is that OCers and CCWers are law abiding, sane, responsible people, who not only carry to protect themselves and families, but to come to the aid of the public in times of need, and even to the aid of police officers. I hope that is the message that the public gets from this.
