[randallsquared]

taking a relaxed approach to enforcement.

Whenever a group largely objects to a law, it seems that some of the group will say something like "Well, at least they're not enforcing it", or "Well, at least prosecutors have discretion on bringing charges", as though this is better, when in fact lax enforcement is worse. If people are not in immediate danger from a law, no matter how bad it is, they will be less inclined to spend their own time and resources fighting it. This means that in modern democracies, bad laws that stay on the books almost always come with inconsistent or rare enforcement, because that's how they stay on the books: people are not outraged enough to lobby for repeal or amendment.

[grabeh]

You are right - the risk is of course that with a bad law on the books, the enforcement strategy could change at any moment.

[sageikosa]

...or be subject to stochastic enforcement. Anything not predictable is inherently risky and likely to be avoided by the more risk averse. The actors engaging in more risky behavior then become the prototypes for bad behavior and a justification for tougher enforcement and more laws.