on Newsvine:
The government has no business taking away my guns, has no business deciding for me what is safe or not, ...
What you are basically saying is that you think no one has the right to tell you to do anything you don't want to do...like a child yelling "you're not the boss of me", it's a puerile and short-sighted attitude which works fine if you are living in the woods away from others.
Collections of people living cooperatively is called a society or a civilization and requires the lubrication of both politeness and rules of conduct. It strikes me that libertarians want the conveniences of cooperative living but not the responsibilities that include checks on their individuality. You have the right and freedom to go off and live by your own rules any time you want...you just can't do that in the middle of a busy city.
Society has the absolute right to tell you where and when you can fire your weapons and even whether or not you have the character to own one. They can also stipulate other rules like seat belts and air bags because all too frequently they end paying for the uninsured libertarian's post accident medical bills.
The reality is that individuals and their rights to be "free" do not arise except by way of human social groups in the first place. Hence, the individual is a secondary rather than primary aspect of what it means to be a human. There are good and inventive effects that come from romantic ideals of the lone wolf, but the pack is the superior and primary function of wolfdom.
Life is simply more important in the overall scheme of things than lives.
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