My daughter is playing... on my property... just a foot or two
away from my neighbors property. Suddenly my... neighbor... on his
property only twenty feet away from my daughter... starts running at
her yelling that he is going to kill her. He is carrying a large
knife.... My daughter freezes in fear and there is no way I can reach
her before he does. May I INITIATE FORCE [caps inserted by me - Dach]
and shoot him while he is in his own yard?
**********************************************************************
Ah-ha! You are confused about what 'initiation of force' means. Let me
clear it up for you. Initiation of force is libertarian jargon
synonymous with aggression (which is the term I prefer), which means
taking immoral, forceful action (all forceful action OTHER THAN in
defense of life and morally aquired property is immoral). In this case
it is your neighbor who has initiated force by charging in deadly
earnest at your daughter with a knife, while shouting out his intent
to kill her. Under the circumstances, of course you can shoot him in
his own yard! If there is time to shout out for him to stop before he
gets within striking distance of her do so, if not just drop him in
his tracks before he gets close enough to use the knife, regardless of
what side of the property line he is on. You did not immorally
initiate force, he did; you acted morally, in defense of life.
Dach
--- In [email protected], Tim Gamble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 7/31/05, Theodore Dachenhausen III <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > As far as I am concerned, the moment he starts threatening you or
your
> > family with a weapon, you get inside your house and call the cops.
As
> > long as he doesn't pursue you, let the cops handle it, its what
> > they're payed to do. If, however, he does pursue you, or starts
> > shooting, drop him in his tracks.
> >
> >
> Hi Dach,
>
> Thanks for the reply to my hypothetical situation. Actually this
area
> (force) is the one area I am going to have to work on understanding
before
> fully embracing the Libertarian way.
>
> Your answer indicates no self-defense until the other person
actually
> initiates force, in this instance by either invading my property or
actually
> shooting at me or my family, no matter how direct and credible the
threat
> from the other person.
>
> The problem with that is if I wait until he actually initiates force
by
> firing his gun, my daughter losses her life. It only takes one
bullet and
> one second. If, in today's world it only takes lone second of force
to take
> a life, can we really afford to wait until force is actually
initiated
> against us to take action? Especially in a situation where the
threat is
> immediate, direct and credible.
>
> Take this situation. I am on my back porch cleaning my pistol. My
daughter
> is playing on my property forty feet away from me and just a foot or
two
> away from my neighbors property. Suddenly my crazy, drug-addicted
neighbor
> jumps out of some bushes on his property only twenty feet away from
my
> daughter and starts running at her yelling that he is going to kill
her. He
> is carrying a large knife, but he is still on his property. My
daughter
> freezes in fear and there is no way I can reach her before he does.
May I
> initiate force and shoot him while he is in his own yard?
>
> This seems like an odd question to ask, but after hearing Harry
Browne and
> some other Libertarians explain the whole "never initiate force"
thing, I
> came away believing that even in this instance it would be
considered wrong
> by them to initiate force.
>
> Forgive the pun, but this forces people to always be solely in a
reactive
> mode when dealing with threats. A position of weakness which can
only
> encourage, not discourage, would be attackers.
>
> Comments? Where am I going wrong on this one?
>
> Tim
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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