Laws Do Not Stop Crime

People always amaze me when they demand a new law after a criminal act has occurred with the expectation that it will prevent or reduce the particular crime that inspired it. The law is not designed to stop, prevent or reduce crime, it can not possibly do that and was never intended to do so. The law is just a mechanism that is used to punish criminal behavior after it has occurred. There is no known way to stop criminal behavior before or during the act other than a counter-force of sufficient strength, properly applied against the threat, after it makes itself known. This means that the criminal use of firearms to harm others simply can not be prevented with a law or new laws. Even if guns were, by law, made totally illegal it would do nothing to prevent gun crime. It would just change the place criminals would obtain their firearms which would obviously be the black market. Foreign sources would be thrilled to make and sell all the guns our criminals wanted to buy, after all, they do it now with drugs. Drugs can't be stopped, who possibly thinks guns could? So, unless we arm sufficient numbers of teachers or guards in the schools we remain sitting ducks with no good solution, only a new law that is not capable of doing anything. cjpost