The Fallacy of trying to Legislate Morality

Weekly Update 2017-01-10

Dear Members and Advocates,

Our state was struck with another senseless tragedy last week, when a mentally ill shooter killed five people and injured more at Ft Lauderdale International Airport. A horrible way to begin the new year, but the last year didn’t end much better with the mass-shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

Law enforcement and the media are now trying to play Monday Morning Quarterback, and figure out what went wrong, what could have been done differently and how can this be prevented from happening again. The reality is; these things happen and there is very little we can do to predict it or prevent it. In this case, the shooting took place in the baggage claim area – it didn’t matter that the shooter arrived on a flight – he could have just as easily walked into the terminal from outside. Even if we put metal detectors at the entrances to the airport, he could have just as easily shot people curbside. No matter how far out we set restrictions, someone intent on committing a crime will find the way to do it. Same as with most crimes.

A couple more interesting points came out of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. One was that this individual, not long before, had walked into an Alaska FBI office and told them that ‘his mind was being controlled by US intelligence.’ That was enough for the FBI to take away his gun and order a mental health examination, but apparently not enough for them to keep it, as a month later it was returned to him and was the same gun he used to shoot 11 people. No matter how much credence we put into evaluations, we can never 100% guarantee that they will be right 100% of the time.

The second interesting point was that the shooter shared the same name as an individual on the Florida registry. Although clearly not the same person, the public was quick to jump the gun and start pointing fingers. The photo of the “wrong guy” was retweeted 3,500 times within minutes! Not only did it put this unfortunate individual under an unwelcome microscope (exposing his home address also), but it diverted the focus (including the media’s) towards the wrong place. No matter how well intended it is to provide the public with “information”, at what point are we giving “too much information” and when does that information become more of a distraction than a tool?

The collective thoughts and prayers of our organization go out to the 11 individuals in our own backyard, who fell victim. Our hope, in the wake of this tragedy, is that we can learn valuable lessons from what happened.

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee