Brian, In a free country there are probably many more risks to the population from a variety of sources.
Reminds me of a Science fiction book I read when I was a teen.
It was called Ring World by Larry Niven.
In it there was a race called Pierson’s Puppeteers that was so risk adverse that only the insane would dare to pilot a spacecraft.
The leader of the Puppeteers is known as the Hindmost. Since Pierson’s Puppeteers are foremost concerned with their own safety and the survival of their species, the most important Puppeteer is considered to be behind, or the protector of every other member of the species. It is a shortening from the more literal the one who leads from behind.
Think about it. That’s where we seem to be heading.