It is true that there has recently been a spike in the number of criminals shot by their would-be victims. However it is wrong to say that those armed would-be victims “took the law into their own hands.” Taking the law into one’s own hands is vigilantism. It is where a citizen takes it upon themselves to seek out a suspected criminal, and punish that criminal for a crime that has already been completed, out of a desire for vengeance. Vigilantism is wrong and illegal, because it often results in innocent people being punished in terrible and inhumane ways.