You thought the homicide-land of Chicago couldn’t get worse? You were wrong. A shootout occurred between two rival gangs, resulting in one dead and two injured. Five suspects were arrested. They could have been charged with first-degree murder, homicide in the course of a felony, which requires a life sentence. Or they could have plea-bargained down to second-degree, which gets up to 60 years.

Instead, far-left state’s attorney Kim Foxx released them without charges, because they had engaged in “mutual combat.” No. Mutual combat is two guys who get into a fight in a bar. If neither is seriously injured, often no charges are filed, though both could be charged with disorderly conduct.

But this never applies to use of a deadly weapon, and surely not to a fatality. It was too much even for anti-police Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. She engaged in a war of words with Foxx, which caused some amusement but did nothing for the safety of Chicagoans.

A commentator remarked, “It’s like the Wild West.” No, it is not.

• In the Wild West, law-abiding citizens could be armed to protect themselves and their families. In progressive cities, this is almost impossible, so only criminals are armed.

• In the Wild West, murderers were hanged in the town square after a brief trial, not let loose to kill again.

• In the Wild West, the streets were patrolled by lawmen like Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and their friend Doc Holliday. They didn’t use modern methods of crime prevention. They used .45 revolvers and shotguns. This had a remarkably calming effect on most would-be criminals. Earp and his people knew a fundamental truth: We get less of what we punish, and more of what we reward. It’s past time we remember that.

Wild West? No way.