"It must never happen again"

How many more times do we have to listen to a politician/policeman/lawyer/general utter the words "we must make sure this never happens again"?

They always say it after some terrible murder/accident/abuse/disaster has taken place - invariably after a previous one, at which the same thing was said.

Can I be editor-in-chief of this? How about making sure it never happens in the first place? In particular, I'm thinking of babies being battered to death, but it might equally apply to loonies with guns. Being smart after the event is easy - it's the gift of hindsight. Being smart before the event - aka foresight - is harder, but has a lot more point.