Responsibility and negligence ...
It seems to me that you take the stance, (to rephrase a popular slogan about responsibility) "***** don't **** people. people **** people."
Correct.
you say that people choose to take a **** that impared them and that they did not know the limits or consideration of environment, so therefor they are responsible for the results of those actions.
Yes. Because they
have to be responsible in considerations
before they use the ****.
But can it really be said that they bear the sole responsibility?
Yes, because they choose to take the **** despite their environment, setting themselves up for impaired judgement in that environment.
It goes a long way to addressing the problem with "it wasn't me, I didn't choose, I bear no responsibility" non-sense.
yes, people make choices, but had that person not been on *****, what is the likelyhood that they would have made that same mistake?
The mistake was made when they decided to use the **** in an environment that was not stable.
For example, ******** when they don't have a designated driver -- the lack of a designated driver is
not an excuse!
Same deal for countless other incidents, accidents as well as crimes -- if we ***** people to
think before they use *****, we eliminate a great majority of irresponsible cases.
***** driving went down significantly in the late '70s / early '80s once commercials started promoting forethought before ********.
didn't the ***** indeed impair them in a way that they would not have been otherwise?
Yes, I'm not arguing they did not.
But
they chose to do the **** in an environment that resulted in the irresponsible act.
so how can you say that a thing which does what it is supposed to do is not responsible for the effect that it has?
Never said it wasn't.
I said the
person individually chose to do the **** at a time that was not a stable environment.
Premeditated irresponsibility.
and that is also the real issue of anti-*** view.
yes people will still harm each other if there are no guns.
but guns are made to hurt and to ****, that is what they do and what they are for, and so the very nature of people having them makes it more likely that people will be hurt and ****** by them.
You've got it completely opposite.
***** and guns on their own aren't "bad" in the least bit, and as an American Libertarian, I believe both should be legal.
But I also believe irresponsible use of either should not be "excused away," and that includes
no reduction in the sentencing for the resulting, negative incidents.
Now that doesn't mean premediated ***** driving means premediated, first degree ****** -- which is clearly a "verdict by the victims" (and goes against my American judicial principles).
But it may mean third degree ****** instead of simply manslaughter in some cases, especially when someone clearly did nothing to stop themselves before they started.
Remember -- incarceration is about protecting the public for a period of time in addition to any "punishment" or "reabilitation."
It's kind of like the companies that make poison and then have contamination, and they say "It's not our fault. It was an accident."
But how accidental is it that the manufacture and distribution of poison caused poisoning?
If they were irresponsible in their containment and procedures, same issue.
In fact, there can be
criminal negligence in the case of a licensed professional by the state when it happens.
Holding people accountable for their
intentional negligence is the
key difference!
I'm not saying that we should ban this, or free that (Ok, so I AM saying that we should ban industrial pesiticides, and free the weed).
I'm just saying that it's not a black and white issue, and the heart of it is the conflict between liberty and responsibility.
To me, it's quite clear.
If people were responsible in the first place, we'd have a lot less issues.
If someone chooses to be impaired in the comfort of their home, there is rarely an issue.
If someone chooses to be impaired in public, they bear the risk of their own actions of what they do to the public.
Yes, there are exceptions -- like when someone spikes a ***** or someone leads someone else, impaired, out of their home.
Those are intentional actions by a second party that are clearly not due to irresponsibility of the first party.
But if we ****** people to be responsible for themselves, no excuses, then we'd reduce a lot of issues.
I'm tired of people who continually use excuses for the harm they cause others, and I refuse to excuse them -- especially the repeat offenders.
There are people with occasional, harmless vices, and then there are people with problem, harmful --
to others -- vices.