Must be enforcement

Imagine that all law enforcement entities in Arkansas announced that they would no longer enforce the DUI laws because they unfairly impact the rights of individuals who like to drive impaired. Since there would no longer be a legal consequence for drinking and driving, accidents involving impaired drivers would undoubtedly go up. Then the public would become fed up with the increased risk that sober drivers were facing and demand a return to enforcement of the laws. The good of the many would outweigh the loss of freedom for the few.

Venturing into a Walmart or Kroger recently, you will have observed that our current mask mandates are not having the desired impact of making people wear masks to help stop the spread of covid-19. Since there is no legal consequence for endangering their fellow Arkansans, there is a small but significant number of people who flout the mandates, even when signage states that masks are required.

We are probably five months away from having a general distribution of a vaccine. Many covid-19 related deaths will occur during the period unless we adopt a mask policy that has consequences. If people who refuse to wear masks in businesses that require them could be fined and arrested, the number of new cases would drop dramatically.

To put this into perspective, Arkansas had 503 deaths related to automobile accidents in 2019, while there have been more than 3,500 deaths from covid-19 for 2020, almost an order of magnitude worse. As a state, why is it so easy for us to pass and enforce laws to punish citizens who endanger the rest of us for driving impaired, but we have no appetite for doing the same for people who are helping spread the deadly coronavirus?

PAUL SWEPSTON Hot Springs