Presenting Lawrence Trant, a man dedicated to taking a long-standing prison tradition into the rest of the world:

He is not considered the hero he thought he would become in April 2003, when he stabbed one man and lit fires at two buildings where at least seven convicted sex offenders lived.

As odious as sex offenders are, I can't agree with this guy's actions. First, he uses a state-run internet site to "track down" these people. Yep, a loon with a knife and a bat relies on the people who've turned the DMV into such a streamlined and trouble-free experience to decide whether someone lives or dies.

Second, anyone who resorts to the "attempted murder? Judge, if I'd meant to murder him he'd be dead" defense is too stupid to be trusted. If this guy were allowed to run loose it'd only be a matter of time before he got an address wrong, or the state posted the wrong information, or he nailed someone who really was wrongly convicted.

As far as I'm concerned, the only good places for citizens to take the law into their own hands is at the ballot box and in the jury room. Change the laws, vote for tax and bond issues that'll fund enforcement, and make sure technicalities and slick lawyers do not allow the guilty to go free. Anything else could allow a maniac like this to hold the power of life and death, and the address a typo could lead him to might be yours.