Tag: crime

Categories
general freedom property rights

Barbed Logic

Bill Malcolm has grown potatoes, onions, asparagus and other veggies in his garden in Marlbrook, Worcestershire, for eight years. Unfortunately, in the past four months he has been burgled three times. Thieves stole £300 worth of garden tools. (That’s not weight, that’s British currency.)

So Mr. Malcolm erected a wire fence with a row or two of barbed wire on top. To discourage thievery.

A professional thief could make short order of the fence. But our English gardener figured that it wasn’t the pros who had stolen from him. So he proceeded.

And then came the Bromsgrove district council, which ordered the gardener to take down his fence … or have it be taken down by force of law.

Why?

The local government was afraid it might get sued by a thief who scratched himself on the barbs of the wire.

The fact that the thief would have been in the wrong, for trespass and for intent to steal, that didn’t matter to the council. They were only afraid of being sued.

They gave friendly advice to Bill Malcolm: Not to leave his tools at his garden, in the shed, but to take them home with him.

If you think this is idiotic, I haven’t told you the punch line. That same government, a few weeks before, said not to lock sheds, in case burglars damaged them while breaking in.

It’s nice to know what government is for, eh? That is, insanity.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
Common Sense

Who Gets to Get Guns?

Are all consequences of unconstitutional gun control created equal?

Suppose a town makes it tough or impossible for the average citizen to obtain firearms to protect himself. Does it follow that only the police there possess firearms?

Of course not. We all know that, somehow, persons willing to commit violent crimes for a living are also willing to bear arms — illegally. Despite gun control, both cops and robbers are totin’.

Who else exercises Second Amendment rights in the gun-​free zones? Oh, people with special pull. The people who impose the gun control laws, the politicians themselves.

Chicago resident John Kass has penned an informative piece about this in the Chicago Tribune. Kass observes that in the windy city, where guns are banned, politicians often go around surrounded by armed bodyguards. Chicago taxpayers get to pay for these, of course.

Or the politicians carry arms themselves. One way they get around gun control is to use their connections to arrange for someone to make them deputized peace officers. These deputized politicians don’t actually run around fighting crime. It’s just a ruse.

But what about the honest Chicagoan who lives in a bad neighborhood? With no special connections to help him get around the gun ban? He can get thrown in jail if he’s discovered with a firearm.

There’s only one way to make this right. Shoot down gun control.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.