Policy is there to make you feel good

Roughly two years ago in New York City there was a random act of violence that spurred some policy debate. I do not remember all of the details of this story, but the gist of it should be enough. A therapist who was running her practice out of an office in a residential building has been stabbed to death by a random assailant who simply walked past the doorman and into her office. The murderer has never met his victim before and his crime had no apparent motive.

The incident has spurred a discussion about safety; some lawmakers were talking about banning the practice of receiving customers in offices located in otherwise residential buildings. Fortunately none of the powers that be considered this possibility seriously. Such measure would surely not improve safety by much (I'd be surprised if it did at all) while it's quite clear that it would have an enormous negative economic impact. Still, the very fact that the proposal gained some traction among the public is I think outrageous. I remember arguing with quite a few people who liked that proposal, and asking them what they thought were the odds of this measure preventing a similar tragedy from happening in say, one year's time. The most common response I've received ran something like this: I don't care about odds; I care about knowing that our lawmakers care about our safety. Why is it socially acceptable for people to openly admit that they think policies should be designed not to increase social welfare, but to make them feel good?