I was really hoping that I could find something else to talk about besides the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, but it seems like the issue is not going away.

Nikolas Cruz was charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder Wednesday, and the Associated Press reported that he’s willing to plead guilty if the death penalty was taken off the table. No decision was reached as I’m writing this.

To me, the decision seems obvious—No.

 

So far, Cruz’s attorneys aren’t claiming mental defects, so the only options are guilty or not guilty. If he’s found guilty of taking 17 lives, he should forfeit his own life. Why should he get to live out his life when 17 others do not have that option because of his actions?

 

Unlike with other school shooters, we’re not hearing any claims that Cruz was bullied in school. It turns out it was quite the opposite. He was a bully and a disruptive influence on a school that eventually expelled him. There are no signs that Cruz is someone to be pitied. It’s just the opposite.

With no death penalty, that means Cruz will be spending the rest of his life in prison. Spending his life getting fed, kept behind electronic doors, getting counseling. All of this costs money, taxpayer money. I can think of other people in need who could be helped with that money. Homeless person versus a murderer—it’s a no brainer who should get priority.

An argument could be made that law enforcement had plenty of opportunities to nip Cruz in the bud before the Valentine’s Day massacre. Very true, but they didn’t, and 17 deaths, along with the post-traumatic stress disorder that survivors are experiencing, are the result. Do we fail society again by giving Cruz yet another pass by sparing his life? We should all experience such mercy.

Speaking of mercy, what mercy did Cruz show the students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School? He didn’t target specific people. He simply wreaked havoc for more than six minutes, and in the end, lives were lost. This was no accidental discharge. This was intentional.

What mercy are we showing survivors by keeping Cruz alive, to be brought up by the media years down the road in some jailhouse interview? Do we really want to subject people to occasional reminders that, yes, this man—and I use the term loosely—went into a school and turned it into a crime scene, a war zone at home. Continuous suffering is not something anyone should endure, but letting Cruz live would force that suffering on us.

As it is, we’ll be subjected to a trial that will likely be covered to the point of oversaturation by the media. Once the trial is over, there will likely be appeals by Cruz’s attorneys dragging out for years. With our current justice system, Cruz isn’t going to get that lethal injection tomorrow, but with the death penalty, there is a high probability that he will eventually feel the needle.

The 17 people who died did not have that kind of lead time before bullets snuffed out their lives. Their time in this world ended instantly in some cases. They had dreams and aspirations to life their lives fully, and Cruz took that away. Why should he be granted the gift of life after robbing others of that gift? Again, I say no. Florida is known as the Sunshine State, but Cruz does not deserve any more sunshine.

We can argue about gun control and law enforcement errors and everything else that led to a horrific massacre that has shaken America to its core, but in the end, only one person pulled the trigger. That person was Nickolas Cruz, and since he took lives, his life should come to an end.