Dear Steve,
Bringing up atom bombs in the discussion is the straw man argument. It
attempts to make it "obvious" that the potential danger of atom weapons
is no great and real that one cannot argue against having the government
regulate it. Yet the circumstance is so unrelated to reality that it is
a waste of time in my opinion. We would be better off figuring out how
we can better advance the cause of freedom and protect ourselves against
tyranny and than play mind games like these.
But for the record, no one has the right to tell me what I can use to
protect myself. Tyrannical types might abuse their power and attempt to
do so but their power to do so is illegitimate. Libertarians understand
this instinctively. And we are not worried about abuse because we trust
the good in individual human nature far more than any powerful
government.
Mike
I would agree that the situations are quite different. Please let me explain why I've taken this course.
The argument of the many of the anti-gun control folks I've talked with tends to be based on the idea that such interference would violate some universal moral principle (such as non-initiation of force). If such a principle is valid and truly universal, then the argument is correct. But if we should find a case to which it doesn't apply then we must ask where the principle breaks down and why to understand where the lines should be drawn. And this is generally the question with gun control - which weapons should be legal, not *if* weapons should be legal.
I think we've established that there are situations where at least Mike Dilger and Starchild agree that the principle breaks down and proactive self defense is justified. And I'm fairly certain I could find cases where you (and perhaps even Michael E!) would agree that proactive self defense is justified. If so, I feel progress has been made in coming to a mutual understanding of the issue since we can put platitudes behind us when discussing it and move on to the question of where this line is, in which situations, and why.
Cheers,
Steve
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