No perfect laws

The events at Virginia Tech this week are horrific.

Horrific, too, though on a lesser scale,  has been the news coverage.  Combine those two factors as has happened more frequently of late and you wind up with an even worse outcome.  The public demands, and the government attempts to legislate, laws that can address every single incident that gains the public’s attention.  We seek laws that might eliminate every threat to our safety, every possible contingency in which such tragedies occur.

That’s an impossible task, and will never succeed.  We can’t possibly control every aberrant  behavior that reminds us how vulnerable we are in a free country like this.  Just as there is no perfect crime, there’s no perfect law.  Shit always happens, whether we make it a criminal offense or not.  Freedom does involve risk.  Haven’t we learned that by now?  At times like this we’re shown just how large a risk it can be.  Freedom is also vulnerable.  We can destroy it for ourselves.

[tags]government, legislation, perfection[/tags]