Sen. Mike Lee told The Daily Caller’s Vince Coglianese Thursday that “when someone violates the law, the first instinct shouldn’t be to say we need more laws.”
The Utah Republican, while discussing Wednesday’s horrific tragedy in Parkland, Florida, noted the rhetorical flaws in trying to regulate behavior of people who don’t obey the laws we already have on the books.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 18: Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) walks past reporters inside the US Capitol on July 18, 2017 in Washington, DC. Sen. Lee said he would vote no Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s bid to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
“Someone has violated a whole bunch of laws by the time it reaches something like this,” Lee explained. “Let’s figure out what’s wrong. If we need more laws we can consider that at the moment, but I’ve never been a believer in any area that the violation of one law in any area means we need a new law covering that same subject matter.”
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Coglianese further pressed Lee on why the initial response to incidents such as these is to immediately task the government with finding a solution.
Lee didn’t exactly expand on why but pointed out another problem with this type of behavior.
“Many of the most serious problems we have relate to other things that require an even more powerful source for help,” he continued. “When you look at the breakdown of family structure, when you look at the fact we have adopted a culture that sadly accepts, and in some cases embraces, violence far too quickly, we’re not going to be able to legislate that immediately. ”
“People are reluctant to turn in that direction.”