In the wake of the Jan. 8 Tucson tragedy, the airwaves - and the halls of Capitol Hill - have been filled with the predictable calls for expanded government oversight and decreased civil liberties. Clear-headed reasoning has been displaced by emotional pleas for aggressive legislation to prevent such tragedies in the future.
The proposed fixes for the massacre have run the gamut from the superficially plausible to the simply idiotic. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), for example, called for legislation prohibiting citizens from carrying firearms within 1,000 feet of "high-profile" government officials. But he has yet to explain how such a law would deter a schizophrenic murderer unswayed by the laws against murder.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), meanwhile, proposed legislation outlawing all high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The bill is questionable from a Second Amendment standpoint and is also objectionable to the extent that - with only a nebulous justification - it arbitrarily deprives law-abiding citizens the right to own a firearm accessory for legal purposes such as sporting and self-defense. The bill's possible effectiveness, however, is entirely gutted by the fact that there are thousands of high-capacity magazines already in circulation. Furthermore, a skilled shooter can reload a semi-automatic pistol in approximately one second. Banning high-capacity magazines would not significantly impair a committed assassin's ability to fire a large number of rounds in an extremely short period of time.
But the Second Amendment is not the only part of the Constitution under attack. Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA) believes the First Amendment is also to blame. Consequently, he has proposed criminalizing the use of all language and symbols that "could be perceived" to be a threat of violence against a federal official. "The rhetoric is just ramped up so negatively, so high, that we have got to shut this down," Brady said. It is unclear what, exactly, Brady wants Congress to "shut down." Free speech? Speech he does not like? Speech that he, or some federal judge, considers too "heated"? Could a politician be jailed for vowing to "take down" his opponent in the next election?
Brady's bill would merely be a futile attempt to prevent tragedies such as the Tucson shooting. There is no evidence - psychological or otherwise - to suggest that Jared Loughner was pushed over the edge by political rhetoric. Irresponsible speculation about what might have caused an insane killer's shooting spree does not constitute a sufficient basis to outlaw activity specifically protected by the Constitution.
The majority of suggested legislative responses to the tragedy are indicative of an irrational, emotional mindset that fails to consider the consequences of knee-jerk restrictions of constitutional freedoms or to contemplate the effectiveness of governmental policies. Those of this mindset believe that adopting some policy - even if, in the long run, it is more pernicious than beneficial - is better than doing nothing. Sadly, it is this mindset that prevails in the wake of many tragedies and disasters. Sept. 11, for instance, has been used to justify two wars, warrantless wiretapping, a torture regime, an evisceration of the Fourth Amendment, targeted killings of American citizens without due process (as in the case of Anwar al-Awlaki),
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