OK, I'm doing a thought experiment, re: red flag laws.
Situation:
An alien being comes to earth from another planet; we'll call him Sam.
Sam doesn't know anything about earth civilization or culture(s).
Sam approaches one of the humans on earth and says "how's it going?"
Human says, "We have a problem; one of us is acting strange and we're afraid he might hurt other humans. Hopefully it's only a temporary thing he's going thru, but we're concerned and not sure if we need to do something to prevent his possibly hurting other humans, or just leave him alone and see what happens. What do you think?"
Sam thinks a minute, says "Well, if you think your fear is justified, and you decide to do something, I would say the first thing to do would be to temporarily restrict his movements, keep him confined until the threat passes, or it appears more permanent measures are required."
Human says, "Well, ok, but we're really worried about him using one of the objects in his house to hurt others, what do you think about just taking that object away from him?"
Sam says, "It seems to me that would be focusing on a very small part of the problem, if you're truly worried about him hurting others, it seems he could just find another way, of many, to hurt humans, no?"
Human says, "But hear on this part of the earth, we humans are really scared of humans using this particular object."
Sam says, "But that really doesn't make senses, the majority of the problem would still be present, you're not solving the basic problem of this human being able to roam and hurt other humans."
Human says, "Well, we have a system in place to forcefully restrain a human's movement, but it's more complicated and we're scared he might do something in the meantime, or that system may not result in restraining him. Plus, freedom of movement is one of our most treasured rights. We'd like to just take the object away from him very soon."
Sam; "Would that make him angry and more likely to hurt someone another way?"
Human; "I don't know, but that object is really scary for us."
Sam; "I think you're getting lost in minutia, and you've lost sight of the real problem that you're concerned about."
And so on.
Situation:
An alien being comes to earth from another planet; we'll call him Sam.
Sam doesn't know anything about earth civilization or culture(s).
Sam approaches one of the humans on earth and says "how's it going?"
Human says, "We have a problem; one of us is acting strange and we're afraid he might hurt other humans. Hopefully it's only a temporary thing he's going thru, but we're concerned and not sure if we need to do something to prevent his possibly hurting other humans, or just leave him alone and see what happens. What do you think?"
Sam thinks a minute, says "Well, if you think your fear is justified, and you decide to do something, I would say the first thing to do would be to temporarily restrict his movements, keep him confined until the threat passes, or it appears more permanent measures are required."
Human says, "Well, ok, but we're really worried about him using one of the objects in his house to hurt others, what do you think about just taking that object away from him?"
Sam says, "It seems to me that would be focusing on a very small part of the problem, if you're truly worried about him hurting others, it seems he could just find another way, of many, to hurt humans, no?"
Human says, "But hear on this part of the earth, we humans are really scared of humans using this particular object."
Sam says, "But that really doesn't make senses, the majority of the problem would still be present, you're not solving the basic problem of this human being able to roam and hurt other humans."
Human says, "Well, we have a system in place to forcefully restrain a human's movement, but it's more complicated and we're scared he might do something in the meantime, or that system may not result in restraining him. Plus, freedom of movement is one of our most treasured rights. We'd like to just take the object away from him very soon."
Sam; "Would that make him angry and more likely to hurt someone another way?"
Human; "I don't know, but that object is really scary for us."
Sam; "I think you're getting lost in minutia, and you've lost sight of the real problem that you're concerned about."
And so on.
