Amid the debate about instituting waiting periods for those who would like to buy guns, Instapundit Glenn Reynolds offers a different idea in a USA Today column.
After New York state hastily passed its post-Newtown gun law, it quickly became obvious we need a waiting period for laws more than for guns. After all, the idea behind waiting periods for guns is that people intent on doing something rash would “cool off” if they had to wait a few days before getting their hands on one. Laws are dangerous, too, and legislators seem prone to the same fits of hysteria as the gun owners those lawmakers want to regulate. …
… The problem, of course, is that emotions also cloud politicians’ thinking, and efforts to push sweeping legislation through while emotions are high also mean that the proposed law doesn’t get the kind of scrutiny it needs. The result, typically, is bad: Not only legislation that does things the public wouldn’t necessarily support if there were time for reflection, but also legislation that doesn’t even do what it’s supposed to do.