Bad Case Yeilds Bad Laws

This op-ed makes a pretty good case for why we need to make sure we know what we are doing when responding to the horror of life, whether it is 9/11 or Virginia Tech. There's a saying in the legal profession:

Bad cases make for bad law. Drafting sweeping legislation in response to a particularly terrible incident can end up doing more harm than good. The Patriot Act, produced quickly and without serious deliberation in the wake of 9/11, is a case in point.


The Virginia Tech massacre, with its horrific toll and brutal perpetrator, leads everyone to ask: Could this incident have been prevented, and how could we stop something like it from happening in the future?

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The victims of last week's shootings deserve more than just a quick fix that will do little to address the real problems brought to the fore by this tragedy. Designing laws aimed at preventing "future Virginia Techs" will require serious, thoughtful and time-consuming deliberation.

And, even then, they still might not work.

As tragic as the events may be, there is probably little that can be done systematically to prevent Virginia Tech from happening again. It is tragic, but probably the truth.