by Ken Hamblin

About the author: Ken Hamblin is a syndicated columnist.

In May 1997, in Redford, Texas, an 18-year-old Mexican-American teenager was shot and killed by a squad of Marines after he opened fire on them with a .22-caliber rifle.

According to the U.S. Border Patrol, local high-school student Ezequiel Hernandez Jr.—who certainly was old enough to know better—shot at four Marines who were watching a suspected drug-trafficking route.

Hernandez fired twice, the Associated Press reports, and was preparing to fire a third time when a Marine returned fire, striking him in the chest.

Relatives of Hernandez claimed he had taken his .22-caliber rifle to tend the family’s 30 goats after dinner. They insisted they heard only a single shot, estimated to be about...