Really? That's The Best Decision?

When Garth Ennis did his 12-issue Punisher mini-series, lo those few years ago, he had an issue where Daredevil faced a conundrum.

Ma Gnucci's brother is on trial for, remarkably, something he didn't do. Remarkable, because he's apparently such a psycho the other families felt it best to frame him and get him out of the way. But the Gnuccis were smart and hired that wonderful Murdock & Nelson law firm, who went right to work making sure he wasn't convicted of something he didn't do.

So naturally Frank's response is to shoot him. Except Daredevil shows up to stop him. Naturally. At which point Frank exercised a nearly Hudlin-Black Panther level strategy, except for the part where Daredevil beats Frank up before Frank uses the ultrasonic generator doohickey to overload DD's senses, allowing Frank to deck him. While we're here, where the hell did Frank Castle get an ultrasonic generator device? He doesn't have Micro to hook him up, and that doesn't seem like the sort of thing you find while helping yourself to some dead criminal's money and weapons. Maybe he used the money to buy it from AIM? *Shrugs*

Daredevil wakes up chained to the water tower (ah the ubiquitous New York City water towers), with a gun taped to his hand. Frank says there's one bullet in the gun, and that because of the tape and the angle DD's arm is chained at he can't throw the gun, and Frank's Kevlar makes a body shot useless. So to stop Punisher from shooting his target, Daredevil has to shoot the Punisher in the head, what would likely be a killshot.

And Daredevil was going to do it! He aimed and pulled the trigger! Thank goodness Frank had removed the firing pin!

But that stuns me. Daredevil thinks it's better to kill Frank Castle, than to let Frank kill a guy who has committed any number of crimes that he got away with? And yeah, a normal person probably wouldn't know that the fellow in question had committed all those crimes, but this is Daredevil. He's got underworld connections, he would know about this guy's rep, and what he's done. I know DD really believes in the American system of justice (except for the part where he takes the law into his own hands, by dressing up and leaping on rooftops punching people), but he's willing to let Dino Gnucci back on the streets, in the hopes they'll actually catch him doing something down the line? So Daredevil doesn't believe in killing criminals, but he does believe in killing people who do believe in killing criminals?

Then again, the Punisher almost certainly has a higher body count that Mr. Gnucci, so I guess that could explain it. Or we could chalk it up to Mr. Ennis', shall we say, unusual view on superheroes.