The urge to “do something” in the face of tragic events, no matter if that something is constructive or destructive, is irresistible for most politicians. We see that with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D–Ga.), who concedes he can’t think of any law that could have presented a recent school shooting. But that doesn’t stop him from advocating more legislation anyway. It’s a bad habit among officials that threatens more friction between government and the public without solving any problems.
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“There Is No One Single Law That Will Stop All of These Tragedies”
Last week’s murder of four people by yet another mass shooter at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia was a topic of conversation on the latest edition of Meet the Press.
“Do you think that there is any law that could have prevented this tragedy in your state, senator?” Meet the Press host Kristin Welker asked the lawmaker.
Warnock expressed sympathy for the people of Winder, as well as concern over the recurrence of mass killings in the United States which he described as a “tragic form of American exceptionalism.” He went on at such length that Welker reiterated her original question, asking “is there a specific law” that the senator thinks could have prevented the crime.
“Listen, there is no one single law that will stop all of these tragedies,” Warnock finally conceded.
That’s where the conversation should have ended—at least when it comes to legislation. If somebody commits a horrible crime, and a legislator can’t think of a law that would have prevented such a crime, then there’s no role in the matter for legislators. And that’s fine; government and law are blunt instruments that have little to offer beyond setting penalties to be imposed when somebody is caught engaging in what most people agree are unacceptable acts—such as murder. Preventing bad people from committing those acts anyway is more of a cultural concern.
But Warnock is a political creature who sees government as the solution to all of life’s ills. Never mind that he can’t think of “one single law that will stop all of these tragedies,” he thinks the state should do something anyway.
The Senator Still Wants More Laws
“Any country that allows this to continue without putting forward just commonsense gun safety measures is a country that has, in a tragic way, just lost its way,” he huffed.
But just what are “commonsense gun safety measures” if there’s no one law that could have prevented the murders at Apalachee High School?
Welker pressed Warnock, repeatedly, on whether he’d advocate a “mandatory gun buyback” program—compensated confiscation—of the sort that Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris once favored, but now claims to reject.
“I think, again, there’s not one single thing that will make all of this go away,” he answered.
Warnock did vaguely favor getting “these military-style weapons” off the streets with regard to the AR-15 family of rifles, and he made happy noises about “universal background checks,” but he refused to advocate for any specific law after admitting he couldn’t think of one that would have changed events.
He did repeat his “tragic form of American exceptionalism” line while calling for unspecified “reasonable gun safety laws.” He must have practiced that turn of phrase.
Unenforceable Laws Just Create Friction
It’s for the best that Warnock didn’t let himself get pinned down on gun laws. Governments can’t even get people to register guns (for good reason, when confiscation is on the table). Connecticut’s 2013 “assault weapon” (semiautomatic rifles with a military appearance) registration law achieved roughly 15 percent compliance, while a similar law in New York drew compliance from less than 5 percent of those affected (more than 40 percent of those who originally obeyed ignored mandatory re-registration in 2020). Trying to seize guns and fulfilling fears of a massive gun grab would certainly inspire even greater defiance.
Universal background checks are even less enforceable. Private kitchen-table transactions aren’t subject to government scrutiny and control. Research into such laws finds low compliance.
Again, lawmakers can be somewhat effective when they confine themselves to setting penalties for committing acts that virtually everybody agrees are wrong. They’re not good at scaring large segments of society out of doing things many people believe are perfectly acceptable exercises of individual rights.
And bad people who want to hurt others tend to do so even if the acts they have in mind—such as murder and mayhem—are illegal. They just use the tools at hand.
The Solution Isn’t Found in More Laws
In the U.K., where guns are strictly restricted, criminals often choose to use knives (or illegal guns—they’re criminals, after all). Lawmakers responded with strict laws, calls for knife registration (really), and a recent ban on machetes and “zombie knives” (scary-looking knives inspired by zombie movies).
Somehow this hasn’t stopped people who don’t care about laws from continuing to commit crimes.
Part of the issue is that politicians exaggerate problems for political gain or because people get scared and press lawmakers to “do something.” The UK’s “knife-crime epidemic” involves hundreds of deaths in a nation of 67 million people. Likewise, Warnock insists “it’s not safe to be in” schools, shopping malls, spas, and medical clinics, which is nonsense. Despite a surge in crime coinciding with the pandemic lockdowns, violent crime appears to have resumed its downward slide.
“Using the FBI data, the violent crime rate fell 49% between 1993 and 2022, with large decreases in the rates of robbery (-74%), aggravated assault (-39%) and murder/nonnegligent manslaughter (-34%),” according to Pew Research.
Mass shootings are undoubtedly troubling, but they remain rare, accounting for 0.2 percent of firearm deaths (suicides make up 60 percent). That makes them a poor target for policy of any sort.
But when you’re a political creature like Raphael Warnock, your hammer is legislation, and every concern looks like a nail. He concedes he can’t think of a law that would make a difference and then calls for more laws, anyway.
While Warnock refuses to specify just what laws he means, we can be sure that legislation intended to resolve a real but rare concern but applied to everybody will meet defiance and cause more friction between government and the public. Often, the best thing government officials can do is nothing.
