Lux Lucet

Barak Obama calls for new “common sense” gun laws in the wake of the shootings in San Bernardino, 12/2/15.

It is, I believe, a chronic disease of the political class, this boring and predicable clamor for new laws, “to ensure this sort of thing never happens again!” every time a disaster or tragedy strikes. Really, it’s almost like a twisted sort of reflex arc.

The latest example of this is President Obama, who, showing himself a true devotee of Winston Churchill’s maxim “never let a good crisis go to waste,” could be found calling for more “common sense” gun laws almost before the echoes of the shootings in San Bernardino had died away.

In this case, “common sense” was defined by Obama as passing a law to prevent those on the “No Fly List” from owning fire arms. This sounds reasonable enough, until you realize that getting on the “No Fly List” requires no due process – the federal government can arbitrarily put you on it, no explanation needed – and having your name removed can be almost impossible. What kind of man considers it “common sense” to deny Second Amendment rights to an American citizen already the victim of a lawless federal government Star Chamber? Methinks he shows the heart of a tyrant. .

But beyond the issue of due process, as important as this topic is, there’s another problem with crying “there ought to be a law” every time something bad happens: the idea of the regulatory state itself.

There are two basic approaches to dealing with crime: crime punishment and crime prevention. The Biblical and historic American approach is that of crime punishment. According to the apostle Paul, the job of the civil magistrate is, “to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” Note well, Paul does not say it is the place of the magistrate to regulate everyone in the hope of preventing a crimes, but to punish those who actually commit them.

In like manner, the law of Moses is set up to address how to handle cases where a violation of the law has occurred, not to prevent it from happening. For example, Deuteronomy 19:5 provides direction on how to deal with the case of a man who accidently kills his neighbor while chopping wood. In the event the head slips from a man’s ax and, “strikes his neighbor so that he dies,” the Bible indicates that he should flee to a city of refuge, so that he is not killed by the dead man’s avengers.

But while the Bible is very specific on how to handle a case of this sort, it makes no provision for an Israelite Department of Ax Inspection whose job was to harass farmers and level fines on them if their tools were not up to government standards.

To all the busybodies, regulators, snoops and scolds among us, the answer is, no, there ought not to be a new law. No now. Not ever. We’re already choking on the ones you’ve passed. And as for Obama, we can only hope he would change his tired old tune.  But I wouldn’t count on it.