Legislating under the influence of catastrophe

Published



It didn’t take long after the Tuscon shooting for politicians and pundits to start proposing legislative responses. I haven’t done a systematic study of this, but I would guess that legislation passed quickly in reaction to tragedies, horrors, and catastrophes tend to range from pointless to really bad.

Jacob Sullum at Reason makes a similar argument today. Here’s his lede:

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