Presents
If We Were Still Free
Pamphlet #900

"When Airplanes Were Made Gun-Free Zones"

The day of infamy actually occurred far earlier than September 11.
It occurred when airplanes were made gun-free zones.
The track record of gun-free zones is--- how shall we say this?--- less than impressive.
Post offices, schools and now, airplanes.

The events of September 11 could not have occurred but for the fact that air travelers are disarmed,
and airplanes are a Second Amendment-free zone.

In no other way could the terrorists have commandeered the planes with box cutters and pocket knives,
turning them into flying bombs,
and wrought with such massive destruction of life, property and our economy.

This is not because the terrorists would have been afraid of being shot and killed by passengers,
since the terrorists were obviously prepared to die.

Instead, they would have known
that they would not have a great chance of successfully carrying out their mission
against the World Trade Center and Pentagon,
and so there would have been no point in trying that.

So it turns out that depriving people of freedom also has its costs.
It is hard to conceive of a more graphic illustration.

People imagine that curbing liberty will prevent those with evil intentions from carrying them out,
by depriving them of the ability to act in a certain fashion.

In reality, it never works.

However, liberty is not just the necessary condition for bad people to act,
it is also the necessary condition for good people to act.

Restricting liberty in hopes of rendering bad people harmless
comes at the price of incapacitating good people and rendering them helpless.

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