Apathy Sketchpad

I am of the ilk that would make it illegal to kill random strangers in the street. This seems pretty logical to me. I dont much care how you do it, if you want to shoot them, smash large metal objects into them, poison them, it should be illegal. Now, shooting people in the street is illegal. In America, though, it isn’t discouraged very well. Their constitution protects their right to carry a gun. Their National Rifle Association fights to keep this right protected.

Why? “Guns Don’t Kill People; People Kill People”, yes, I know, but I think people would have a rather harder job of it without the guns. Americans buy guns, keep them in unlocked boxes on a low shelf, then act all suprised when their two-year-old son shoots them. What did you think was going to happen? The argument for keeping a gun in the house it that it protects you from intruders, but guess what? The intruders have guns too. In fact, they are already holding a gun, whereas you have to go and get yours from Daddy’s Secret Cupboard. The simple fact is that more of the shots fired by these guns are accidents that hit family members than well-aimed shots that hit intruders.

Smashing large metal objects into people is also illegal, but again is not exactly discouraged. If you assume the metal object in question is a car, then it is perfectly legal to drive it around city centres at 30 miles per hour. This is, of course, understandable; they are tremendously useful and it would be insanity to ban them. It might help, though, to make them a bit safer. It is illegal, for example, to attach bull bars to the front of a car. The logic behind this is that if you hit someone, they make it far more likely that they will die, and the only benefit they bring is to make your car look cool. All very laudable, but a better idea would be to try to prevent the crashes in the first place. I’m talking about huge picnic tables bolted onto the backs of cars. Brakes and steering on the front wheels don’t work if the car has a spoiler pushing all the weight onto the back wheels. And the justification for these things? It looks cool. Blacked out windows that stop you seeing the outside world. Looks cool. Ban them. some people will think their cars look worse, other people won’t die.

Poisoning people in the street is not illegal. It is perfectly acceptable to blow clouds of carcinogenic toxins into peoples faces at random. I cannot understand why this should be. Smoking in public should be banned. There is not one single reason for it to be legal. This is not a grey area. If you want to surround yourself in toxic gas, stay away from me. If I want to go into the town centre, then kindly stay at home. I shouldn’t have to avoid you. There shouldnt be “non-smoking” areas. It should be assumed that it isnt allowed unless a sign says otherwise. To me, it’s just common sense. Somkers, of course, don’t see it this way. They say things like “it’s my right to smoke” or “second hand smoke isn’t harmful”. Yes it is harmful. Smokers die younger than non-smokers. Therefore, smoke is harmful. I very much doubt that the filter adds the toxins, so logically second hand smoke must be dangerous. And it is not your right to smoke around me, for that very reason. If it wasn’t already legal, it would never even occur to anyone to allow it. If you disagree, please feel free to debate the issue in the forum, but not in person, because I don’t want to be near you.