There's Self Defense, and Then There's Murder…This Looks Like Murder

I support the right to bear arms.  I support the use of force to protect one’s property, or to protect the property of others.  I don’t have a problem with a register jockey using a firearm to prevent a street thug from robbing a store. 

However, when you take the time to get another gun, walk over to a robber who has already been shot, and put a few more pills in him, that seems a little less like self defense, and a little more like murder:

Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore’s security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor.

Now Ersland has been charged with first-degree murder in a case that has stirred a furious debate over vigilante justice and self-defense and turned the pharmacist into something of a folk hero.

Ersland, 57, is free on $100,000 bail, courtesy of an anonymous donor. He has won praise from the pharmacy’s owner, received an outpouring of cards, letters and checks from supporters, and become the darling of conservative talk radio.

Patterico has the security camera footage. He seems to have little worry about the guy on the floor, because he turns his back on him to go get the other gun.

What do you think?