I am not one of those people who want a law for everything that moves. One of my favorite bloggers http://myretirementchronicles.blogspot.com/ sometimes puts on a piece called More Dumb Laws. She hits the nail on the head.
Laws which are outdated or impractical are a waste of time as they do more harm than good.
We need well written, necesssary laws and they have to be enforced. Laws which are not enforced or poorly enforced only tell the bad guys that the odds of getting away with something are worth their while to break the law.
My favorite example of lack of enforcement and that people really go to town and break laws with abandon is highway traffic laws. I'm a little old guy who drives down the highway at 120kmh which is 10 kmh over the speed limit. I'm afraid I'm going to get run over . People pass me like I'm standing still. I do not get the satisfaction of seeing my speeding friends stopped down the road receiving a ticket. What is worse is that in Alberta there are over $100 000 000 of outstanding traffic fines . So even if you do get caught you don't have to pay a fine. So traffic laws must be enforced and then the bad guys get the idea that the odds are pretty high that they will be aprehended. Somehow or other the fines have to be collected. So the offenders not only get caught, but they pay the price.
The same thing happens in the criminal law enforcement. Bad guys don't like to get burned. They don't mind doing time , but to get caught is the down side for them.
So we are going to have to lobby our politicians to take a serious look at enforcement and do what it takes to enforce laws.
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