There is pure unadulterated evil in the world.

The reality was underscored once again on Sunday night.

This time — instead of being in an Oakland neighborhood, a drug cartel controlled village in Mexico, or the Russian war front in Ukraine — it was in Manteca.
Ashley Waters was a 23 year-old woman.

She had driven to the shopping center at West Yosemite Avenue and Union Road to pick up her boyfriend who was completing a work shift.

She ended up dying, shot to death during what appears to have been an attempted carjacking.

Two of those responsible for the evil act were believed to have perished in a fiery crash while fleeing police in San Leandro.

As you would expect, it queued up a debate about the  need for gun reform.

What it won’t queue up is a gut-wrenching conscience wrestling session 20 years down the road had the two that died had simply been arrested, successfully prosecuted, and incarcerated.

You know the debate.

Years after the convicted freely assumed the combined role of judge, jury and executioner to justify in their mind — certainly not their heart as it is debatable whether they have one — that it as OK to take another’s life, society wrestles with whether it is fair to keep them behind bars.

What never matters too much, it seems, is the life taken.

As the years fade, the focus shifts to whether it is social justice to keep someone locked up.

There is a need for social justice.

But there is a difference a galaxy wide from stealing a pair of Levi’s and the brazen indifference needed to justify in one’s mind to essentially be willing to kill another to steal a pair of pants.

Argue, if you like, that the murderer “wasn’t thinking.”

List all of the so-called “extenuating circumstances” you want. They were only 18 years old. They weren’t thinking. They were brought up in a violent world. They were poor. They were whatever you can come up with.

To the credit of most of us, we don’t close or hearts and minds to such arguments.

But that doesn’t mean that we can afford to ignore the fact evil exists.

There are, by some estimates, 393 million firearms in the possession of civilians in this country.

That exceeds this nation’s 331.9 million residents.

Gun reform of some type is always needed.

But if you believe there is a clear and obvious road forward to reducing the number of guns in this country — especially those that make their way into the hands of criminals —  then may prayers and thoughts be with you.

It’s a harsh reality people use guns to kill people. In 2021, the total in the United States was 48,830 people based on Centers for Disease Control data.

 It’s also a hard reality that the Pandora’s Box of guns wasn’t just opened, but there is no lid that will get us close to that point in mankind’s history where no one was inclined to kill someone else. If your beliefs are Christian-based, that was back before the first apple bite.

You could blame Apple bytes and allied tech brand names for creating a world where violence is glorified in TikTok videos via gun waving to rap music, culprits live streaming their slaughter, or the spread of hate and indifference worldwide by those pounding the modern-equivalent of keyboards without ever stepping into the sunlight.

But, as they say, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Evil has walked among man from the beginning of time.

It’s been justified in the name of religion, through events such as the Crusades to the Salem Witch Hunts

It’s been justified by the haves and have nots in just about every war ever waged.

It’s been justified by ethnic cleansing, a pleasant sounding euphemism for killing people who don’t share your value system, skin tone, race, pr your perception of the correct genetics.

And there have been endless acts of depraved indifference through the ages during the commitment of crimes or — for want of a better explanation — those that are essentially rabid humans who kill for a sick thrill.

The victims had no value to the killers.

As such, the killers should have no value to society.

We do not need a criminal justice system where the punishment for every crime regardless of its relative weight involves locking people up and throwing away the key.

Nor do we need a criminal justice system where the scales are weighted down with social justice guilt.

Weakening the consequences for criminal actions and closing down as many prisons as possible, isn’t a solution.

Yes, they may not have worked at reforming people and too many years were attached to some crimes.

That said two things are certain especially when we are debating the most egregious acts — the taking of a life especially for personal gain or satisfaction and the maiming  of others through injury, rape or other means.

*1. Those who are incarnated for first-degree murder and stay in prison until they die will never kill someone outside the walls of prison ever again.

*2. There is no reform that is so ironclad that it assures society those convicted of first-degree murder will never commit murder again when they are released.

Yes, we need to work harder at indifference to reduce the potential for violent  crime being committed regardless of the socio-economic class.

Yes, we need to find a better line-in-the-sand when it comes to society’s ability to commit mentally ill people to treatment facilities.

And while we may need some common sense gun reforms that aren’t on the books, we also need to commit the resources and political will to making sure those laws on the books are enforced instead of letting the bureaucracy taking the lead.

When all is said and done, what happened in a parking lot on Sunday night in Manteca is manifested dozens of times each day in this nation.

It is the result of a decision made by an individual(s) that elected to arm selves with a weapon of death to commit a crime.

A 23-year-old woman paid a horrible price for a deliberate act committed by individuals who had free will.

This doesn’t cry for gun reform as much at it cries for creating a society where the ends don’t justify the means and those that commit acts that devalue the lives of others are held accountable and not given a blanket pass.

That’s social justice.

It’s not a carte blanche retreat from unpleasant consequences for horrific and heartless acts committed in the name of greed, lust or depraved indifference.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com