Man tries to rob parking lot attendant in New York. Shoots him twice. Attendant nonetheless takes the gun away, and shoots the attacker.

Police arrest the victim, charge him with illegal gun possession. For taking the gun used to try to kill him.

[Attendant Moussa Diarra, age 57] was shot twice during a tussle with suspected thief Charles Rhodie at Carolan’s West 31st Street garage early Saturday before using the accused man’s weapon to shoot him back.

Diarra was initially charged by cops in the case, including with criminal possession of a weapon for having Rhodie’s gun at one point, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office Sunday dropped the raps. Rhodie still faces charges including attempted murder.

Bragg’s office dropped the charges after public outcry.

Let’s emphasize that properly – it took public outcry to get these morally depraved charges against an innocent man who defended himself dropped.

And just so I’m clear, by “depraved” i mean “evil”.

When governments goal is to make people more afraid of the consequences of protecting themselves than of being victimized, there is no other word for it.