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hack_edu | 3 years ago

> When did we become so comfortable with the government mandating presentation of papers and tracking of private transactions?

After Timothy McVeigh blew up a building with a truck full of agricultural supplies.

discuss

order

catiopatio|3 years ago

How well did that prevent 9/11?

The decrease in domestic terrorism is due to societal changes and better old-fashioned policing of home-grown extremist groups. We didn’t somehow make it impossible (or even difficult) to improvise large explosives.

mattzito|3 years ago

Well, those folks had to spend a few years planning, take flying lessons, dry run everything a few times, and then pull off the most complicated and coordinated terrorist attack in US history.

The actual bomb planning for the Oklahoma City bombing was less than a year and involved two people. So, seems like the bar was raised quite a bit.

olliej|3 years ago

How well did laws to stop isolated crazy people killing lots of people stop … um … a group of countries investing large amounts of money and years of time into planning and training for the largest single attack on a civilian target in history?

I mean sure, you could also ask how laws against shoplifting fail to stop bank robberies, and it would be just as coherent.

zeven7|3 years ago

It prevented 7/15 pretty damn well

tadfisher|3 years ago

Survivorship bias. You don't know how many plots were prevented by making it difficult to obtain explosive precursors.