One crazy incident = everyone’s liberty restricted

by Walter Olson on March 13, 2010

And then repeat x10,000 [Jeremy Clarkson, Times Online (U.K.) via Free-Range Kids]

{ 2 comments }

1 Le Mur 03.14.10 at 9:54 am
2 Anonymous Attorney 03.15.10 at 8:59 am

I call this knee-jerk legislation, or legislation by anecdote. It’s what we get in a democracy. Nobody’s ever mature enough to just say, “well, maybe that was a freak thing, and no legislation is required.” Or sit down and look at long-term patterns, or lots of data. I’m almost tempted to say that should be a requirement before passing any law, but of course, if that’s the kind of thing we have to require, the problem is bigger than that fix.

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