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Monday, March 06, 2006

The Ultimate Victimless Crime

For as long as I can remember, we libertarians and constitutionalists have been railing about "victimless crimes," such as private drug use and prostitution. We always run up against the same arguments: "You should be in the family that's been broken up because of a prostitute's STD," and suchlike.

Explaining that drunk driving is a victimless crime (as long as no one's life or property is actually harmed -- situations where other criminal laws take over) is another losing cause.

How about a completely, totally victimless crime: carrying a concealed weapon? If the weapon is properly concealed, no one is affected by it, in any way. If the weapon is brandished, or used in a threatening way, or if it is actually misused -- then we have laws to handle that.

But why -- with a "crime" that no one would even know about (lacking a search -- or magnetometer), should anyone be concerned?

I would think that, using such a politically-incorrect example, rational civil libertarians could back unrestricted concealed carry. (Irrational opponents, by definition, cannot be reasoned with, and thus must be dismissed. I hate manipulating anyone into an irrational reaction, even if it's favorable to my position. An irrational person's "conviction" is too tenuous, as well as being effectively meaningless.)

Note: I can't tell you how many people I know who have committed this "crime" for years, never once committing any other "crime," and never once displaying their weapons.

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