Congress has enacted between 200 and 600 statutes during each of its 115 biennial terms so that more than 30,000 statutes have been enacted since 1789. Not to mention state laws that add thousands of additional laws on top of the federal ones.

Isn’t it curious, then, that there isn’t at least one law requiring anyone to save another’s life?

“Red flag” laws are entirely ineffective when relying on public cooperation to identify potentially capricious intentions. It’s human nature for people to shy away from danger that doesn’t involve them directly.

Those very few, reality-challenged individuals who commit heinous public shootings have at least (according to police investigations) one common denominator – a close acquaintance who was aware of the killer’s private intentions but was apprehensive about taking any action to notify the police.

During the rare instance when an endangered person alerts authorities, they are usually told: “The person in question hasn’t done anything wrong so we can’t act based upon mere suspicion; they basically have to commit a crime before any police action may be initiated.” As the Associated Press reported last year: “Red flag laws get little use as shootings, gun deaths soar.”

These laws have failed before they’ve even started.

David Oshansky
Auburn