At 11:31 AM 12/07/2000 -0500, Michael S. Lorrey wrote:
>Neither do I. So long as self defense is acceptable, but initiation of
>force is unacceptable, self defense will act as a natural governor on
>the initiation of force. Government is thus not needed for police
>protection. Note that in many instances of police strikes, crime tends
>to DROP, because criminals are more afraid of citizens taking things
>into their own hands than the possibility of police cruelty.
I wonder if you have any documentation on this.
I'm not arguing with your statement--in fact it somewhat matches my
experience. When I lived in a rough inner-city neighborhood that the cops
mostly avoided I noticed less violent crime (long as you were armed, kept
to yourself and didn't interfere with local businesses, many of which had
to do with illegal drugs) than in neighborhoods which were more regularly
patrolled. I'd be interested to learn of other similar observations. What
about unarmed or other vulnerable people where there are no police?
Barbara
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