Mask Law

As Boston won the Stanley Cup last year, some citizens in Vancouver were very disappointed, and started a huge riot in the streets. Cars were destroyed, buildings and mailboxes were destroyed, and stores were robbed. The police had to be called in and they had to use tear gas to stop some destruction. Only a few violators were arrested on that day and some more were caught after. Sadly, most of the violators had escaped, either they weren’t caught by hand by the police, not caught on surveillance, or had masks on to prevent being identified.  If none of them had masks on, a lot more violators would have been caught. Thankfully, there is a proposed law sending people with masks on during a riot to jail for five years or a fine of up to $5,000. It sounds like a great idea but is it good? Let’s look at some pros and cons of the new law.  

            If you were watching the Stanley Cup finals in Vancouver last year, and the mask law was in place, and you were cold, you would cover your face. How about if you didn’t want to be on the news standing beside a burning car? You would have to go through some trouble with the police explaining that you are innocent and that would also be wasting the police’s investigation time. Also, riots are illegal, so if you add a mask wearing penalty to it, you just get a larger penalty, that is, if you could find the offender(s). The mask law is unneeded.

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/05/should-it-be-a-crime-to-cover-your-face-during-a-riot-1.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2012/05/14/f-mask-riot-law.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/08/pol-riot-mask-ban-committee.html