From: Michael S. Lorrey (mike@datamann.com)
Date: Tue Apr 18 2000 - 13:13:11 MDT
Zero Powers wrote:
> >From: James Rogers <jamesr@best.com>
> >
> >While I am very big on individual self defense, I have come to abhor
> >state-sponsored killing in general. As things currently stand in most if
> >not all countries, the state is not held to the same standards of
> >justifiable homicide as the individual. While creating such a standard
> >effectively eliminates the death penalty, in the absence of such a
> >standard I would prefer to explicitly eliminate this ability from the
> >state. Arguably, only individuals can have the right of
> >self-defense anyway, since the government is made up of nothing more than
> >individuals.
>
> Sounds nice. But the minute you hold the state to the same standard as
> individuals, the state gives up all police power (except in those few
> circumstances were governmental employees or property are harmed or
> threatened) and all prisons must be emptied. That might sound like a good
> thing to you, but the day it happens here is the day I move to Costa Rica.
Actually, this is not true. The only greater authority police have that you and
I don't have is the ability to give traffic tickets, and in some states, arrest
for misdemeanor offenses. We are all authorized and responsible to apprehend
criminals committing felonies, and in the face of threat of deadly force, with
unarmed individuals present, lethal force is generally legal, though there are
differing thresholds.
The cops don't like people knowing this, because, of course, they are a union,
and like any union, they try to protect their turf and prevent non-unionized
individuals from working in the same occupation...
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