VTech, Leftists, and Laws

Sorry for the slow posting, been going through some personal issues. However, things are getting back to what passes for normal, so I'm baaaaaack! (Hey, where you running off to?)

Anyway, I was posting in the comments section of my favorite "big" blog, Wizbang, and a lefty crystallized my thoughts on leftists and laws. (Here's the thread in question if you wanna read the whole thing.)

Lefties seem to be under the delusion that laws, in and of themselves, prevent crime. BZZZZZT! Wrong! Laws spell out what "crime" is and defines the punishments for various crimes. It's the punishments, not the laws themselves, that deter crime--to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the punishment, of course.

The proof is easy to see. If the leftist view was correct, all we'd have to do is ban crime, and thousands of criminals would turn to a life of honest work. Everyone who thinks that will happen, stand on your head.

So, just passing a law that says "this is illegal" doesn't work. The law has to have teeth... the punishment has to be something a person fears, and the chances of them getting caught and punished also has to be pretty good, or else it won't work.

This explains why more laws won't stop someone like the VTech shooter. He was clearly planning on ending his rampage with his own death, so no punishment in this world would have deterred him. More laws wouldn't have mattered a whit to him.

And that's why the calls for more gun control won't help.