This is simply not true. Having committed murder in the past does not give one the status of a rodef, and no one is allowed to kill a murderer. The reason a baby may be considered a rodef is because it is currently, definitely endangering the mother’s life. Assuming that someone wants to kill you just because they’ve killed in the past is also incorrect. “
LAB, I could only hope that you and I are not in the room with this guy together. You’d get us both killed. He IS a rodeif, in the manner in which I described MY personal scenario. He has MURDERED repeatedly, and if he were coming toward me (as I specifically stated being the circumstance which would cause me to shoot), you can bet he would be looking to make me his next victim.
Stop being so politically correct, your idealism is misplaced IMO. Halacha DOES say differently. If someone is coming to kill you, you are supposed to get up EARLY to kill him first, according to what I learned in Yeshivah when I was a kid. A SERIAL killer will continue to kill until he is stopped permanently. And even with incarceration, he will find a way to kill there as well. It is a compulsion, a blood lust, and even if considered a mental illness, which is very tragic, the crucial thing is to prevent him from causing further harm to others. Killing him, seems to be a pretty safe bet on that score. And I am the person who cannot stand to step on a bug! But sometimes you have to go against your nature for the better good.
I guess you are against the death penalty also?