I've been hearing ads on the radio for at least a year encouraging us to report anything out of the ordinary. Which I kind of get with the school shootings that were going on, but people don't stop to think about the net loss of freedom for millions of people in the off chance one tip might, might, just maybe, lead to someone who intends to do harm. But until they actually attempt it, what crime is thinking about doing it?
I went to high school with a kid who would talk about wanting to come to school with a gun and mow lots of people down. He never did it, but he was elaborate in his description, and had access to all sorts of guns. It’s probably a fairly common fantasy for high school kids. This was the 1970s, by the way.
