Posted on 07/23/2012 6:24:14 PM PDT by GraceG
Not to take a term from John Edwards, but I totally am, it does indeed seem there are "Two Americas" when it comes they types of Laws that get passed by any legislator be they on the state, local, national, or international level (UN Gun Treaties).
Those "Two Americas" are the Two types of laws that are passed.
One is the "Punitive Law" which makes actually doing a certain act that DIRECTLY hurts another human being. This sort of Law is one that makes it illegal to kill, steal, sexually assault, physically assault, etc... This sort of law is enforced after the fact that the crime has been committed. All conservatives that I have know are strongly in this camp.
The other is a "Preventative Law", these are the Handiwork of the Progressives as they seek make illegal any act that COULD lead to a crime that would need to punished using "Punitive Law" in the guise that it is "better" to make an act illegal that "Might somehow" lead to a Crime. This is the concept of "pre-crime" personified even without the minority report psychics in tanks. Because as we all know the progressives can see the future oh so well.
Even if an act that could lead to a crime only leads to a crime in 0.00001% of the time, it is tired directly to the crime and the Progressives put the cart before the horse and scream like stuck pigs to make sure that act is outlawed! Sarcasm alert! Because obviously if such an act were to be illegal then the crime that would in their minds invariably result would be prevented 100% of the time.
This is the root of such Gun Control laws and other nanny state laws such as banning large soda in NYC because the Progressives have so much hubris they think they can "Prevent" Crime if they just ban that one innocent act of owning a gun, owning a widget, doing a minor thing, etc etc....
I believe that if a law if not Punitive then it is not constitutional.
A nation of liberty cannot be built or stand on the notion that its own citizens are the enemy on what some "might" do.
So you are right, we do have two Americas, Half who want to be Free and Half who want to be Slaves.
Good points. Preventative laws have two fundamental problems that cannot be remedied. One, you can’t target them, make them sufficiently narrow in scope, to address only illegal behavior. They will always impinge on freedoms. Two, they don’t work. If someone is set on committing a crime, adding extra laws to break is little or no use. If someone is prepared to murder another human being, something that is already illegal and immoral, adding another “preventative” law saying it is illegal to carry a firearm into place xyz makes no difference. I claim that preventative laws are worse than worthless. They give people an utterly false sense of security while actually eliminating the chance that law abiding citizens can act effectively.
Nanny bloomberg and nanny Obama want the UN to ban our guns, sodas etc.
We have too many damn laws and too much government at all levels .what we need is to repeal most of the governments and most of the laws and ban the UN
You make a good argument. And at one time I was in favor of a punitive-only legal system.
(The scales carried by “Lady Justice” signify that the purpose of law is to restore the balance after a crime has been committed - this being done by the sword which she carries in her other hand.)
Punitive laws are all that’s needed for certain societies. Ours was such a society once upon a time, but not anymore. We have demonstrated that we’re not deserving of a punitive-only legal system, nor of the liberty it bestows.
Are you sure you don’t mean punitative vs. preventive?
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