06-10-2021, 08:26 AM
(06-09-2021, 06:25 PM)plam Wrote:(06-09-2021, 06:00 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I'm confused...drivers already some background check to buy a car right? Surely you can't be sold a car unless you have a valid license?
I think you can buy a car but you can't drive it without a license. And certainly there is no screening for criminality (which would also be problematic in its own way given how we've constructed our society, and would not have prevented this incident).
Not just the way we’ve constructed our society, but also relevance of driving a vehicle to the crime.
For example, hiring a white-collar criminal (fraudster or some such) as an accountant is probably a bad idea. Similarly, a daycare worker should get only one chance to abuse kids before they have to change their employment to a different field. And obviously a convicted mugger should not be allowed to own or carry a gun.
In none of the examples I gave, however, would a driving prohibition have any connection to the crime or any preventive effect.
If the crime in question is vehicle-related that is a different matter. For example a mandatory permanent driving ban for anybody caught driving drunk more than a couple of times is clearly the right thing.