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Politics : Libertarian Discussion Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (2676)	5/9/1999 4:11:00 AM
From: Dave Reed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13056

if I knew that I was giving a gun to a person who meant to kill a roomful of people, would it suffice to say that it was his responsibility, not mine? No, clearly not. In this case you are also an active participant in the crime. Do you not see this as a different issue from selling something that anyone can choose to buy and that only some users may choose to use for criminal purposes? Examples abound: Cars, boats, guns, knives, computers, fertilizer, gasoline, rope, bricks. Drugs and pornography are just two more examples as far as I'm concerned. Both have legitimate peaceful uses even though you may find them to be immoral. If I provide candy to someone I know means to use it to kidnap a child, I am guilty. If I sell candy which unbeknownst to me is used for that purpose, I am not. I think it is easier to see this with non-emotion laden products such as candy but it remains equally true for guns and other "evil" things. Dave

To: Neocon who wrote (2676)	5/12/1999 12:46:00 AM
From: MeDroogies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13056

" what constitutes a tolerable level of risk for the harm that might come of various practices" Based on whose judgements? Drunk driving has untold numbers to prove it is an intolerable risk. If I put my mind to it, so do a few other things, probably. But I haven't seen what I consider an intolerable risk in prostitution or drug/alcohol abuse. That is the point Libertarians make. To create a value judgement of this nature means getting highly subjective - thus highly exclusionary. That is the failing of devising a system to make these things illegal, and why we pay more to keep them illegal than to make them legal.