LSAT 138 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q5

LR Question 5 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Principle: A law whose purpose is to protect wild…

QUESTION TYPE: Principle

PRINCIPLE: Only enforce this law against people who threaten wild animal populations.

APPLICATION: We shouldn’t prosecute snake charmers who violate the law by capturing wild snakes.

ANALYSIS: The principle says not to enforce the law if violators aren’t causing much harm. So snake charmers must not be doing much to harm snake populations. Snakes’ survival isn’t at risk.

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1. CORRECT. This shows that snake charmers are pretty harmless. They aren’t threatening wild snake populations. There are too few snake charmers for them to make a dent in the snake population.
2. This doesn’t tell us that we shouldn’t prosecute. It only tells us we might have to prosecute better.
3. Awareness of the law doesn’t matter. We want to know whether snake charmers cause harm.
4. Maybe snake populations are less threatened because of strict enforcement of the law. This doesn’t tell us not to prosecute snake charmers.
5. This tells us why snake charmers break the law. It doesn’t mean we should let them off the hook.