Tuesday, March 31, 2009

On Laws that Should Not Be

This is getting on my nerves. There are so many laws in this silly country that no person should be held accountable for them all. It would probably take years just to read all the laws for a given city, county, state, and country – let alone understand them and the precedents for their application. And yet these laws are constantly changing (because legislators get bored? Power hungry?). And most of them are silly. For example, it is fine with me for it to be illegal to shoot someone except in self (or family or friend or property) defense: unprovoked. But why then do we need laws about registration, about locking the weapons in trunks, about not practicing in city limits? And do police really intend to enforce these laws, or only when you make them (or some powerful influence on them) mad?

I don’t mind laws against impeding traffic, but why in a free country can people not be allowed to think for themselves and go in or out of the public street as they wish? A policeman should not be able to ticket a person for engaging in a behavior that, had circumstances been all wrong and the person fail to use any common sense to get out of the situation, could lead to inconvenience (or harm) to another person? Why are we doing preventative law? Is this about protecting people and their rights, or about controlling them?

To God be all glory.

No comments: