As many have observed, the citizen's arrest and consequent killing of Ahmaud Arbery could turn out to be perfectly legal.

To me, that is nothing more than an argument to re-examine the strange idea of a "citizen's arrest."

Examine the idea, as if for the first time: simply by virtue of witnessing a crime, you become a temporary de facto police officer with most of the attendant powers and privileges, but none of the attendant training and responsibilities.

That's weird.

If a civilian is allowed to restrain a suspect at gunpoint, then have we really achieved the proverbial state monopoly on violence?

Importantly, all of the above is still true even if Arbery was up to something illegal in that house.