Libertarian Thought and Concealed Carry
How do I get involved in spreading liberty? I have heard this question asked countless times on tv programs, radio shows, and podcasts.
The government has become a leviathan and does not value individual liberty. Despite the 2016 election results, government will continue to tax, make new laws, make war, imprison, and kill people. Continue reading “How I Spread Liberty (so can you!)”
In a minor traffic accident, usually the parties involved will move to a safe location and discuss what happened. They should be concerned whether anyone was hurt and if any property was damaged. If a person or property was harmed, the individuals should work to get it sorted out between police, insurance companies, and the courts. Of course if someone harms you or your property, they need to provide just compensation. The guy in this Fox 2 News story serves as an example of someone who didn’t do any of those things.
If this guy was a Liberty Carrier, things would have gone much differently. He would have asked if the girl was ok and for her to pay for any damage to his vehicle. He would have left his gun concealed. Instead he ended up arrested for felonious assault, and if convicted with a felony, will not only lose his CPL, but as a felon, he would not be allowed to own firearms.
After a minor traffic accident, his response is to pull out his gun. The girls were scared and drove away from the scene of the accident. Phew! Close call right? He must have been in fear for his life, that is the only justification for presenting a gun. For this ignorant CPL holder, the story doesn’t end there. The scared girls were fleeing in their car when they hit a parked car. The guy follows them and uses his car to block them from moving. He then holds the girls at gunpoint until police arrive. He can no longer claim any sort of defense, he chased them down and threatened them. Even though the girl made contact with his car initially, he ended up becoming the aggressor and holding the girls and their property against their will.
When a CPL holder acts contrary to reason and law as in this story, it casts the CPL community and all gun owners in a negative light. The media loves to demonize gun owners and hold these anomalies out there as a reason why there needs to be more regulation or an outright ban on guns. Don’t be one of the lemmings out there that thinks this incident represents the average gun owner.
What is the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP)? The NAP is an ethical and moral ethos that aims to avoid conflict between people. It is illegitimate to use force against any person or property. This is one of the principles in Libertarianism. You should expect that no one will assault you or your property. Unfortunately the world is not full of individuals as intelligent as you. They may be ignorant of the NAP, despite a long formation through history. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) originated some of the ideas as a natural law theorist. Murray Rothbard expounded his NAP sentiments in 1963:
“No one may threaten or commit violence (“aggress”)against another man’s person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus or libertarian theory.”
Matt Kibbe has the above quote in his New York Times Bestseller Don’t Hurt People And Don’t Take Their Stuff A Libertarian Manifesto. His book is easy to read and interesting, especially those starting to learn about Libertarianism.
LibertyCarriers will do well to keep the NAP in their defensive mindset. We must always avoid aggression. We do not start any fights, but we are always prepared to defend ourselves because we believe in everyone’s right to self defense.