Just Don't Buy

Source: Steal This Comic

So here's my lunch-time blog-entry.

If one were steal a lawn mower or buy one on the black market and "things change" (such as the gasoline stops being sold so you have to convert your lawn mower to run on compressed natural gas), you can modify your unlicensed lawn mower without having to worry about the authorities getting involved.

But if you went through the "proper" channels and bought your lawn mower from a legitimate source and "things change" (same example, no gas, need to switch to CNG), you may run into problems modifying your licensed lawn mower.

Silly, right?  Who would be restricted from modifying their own personal property?  But if there was a law requiring a license to operate a lawn mower, would it be unreasonable for there to be restrictions on modifying licensed equipment?  It's for the greater good, after all.

This is true with firearms.  An illegally purchased firearm comes with fewer restrictions.  If you purchase a semi-automatic weapon legally and "things change" (like your neighborhood goes bad) you are restricted from modifying it to fully-automatic.  It's your own personal property, isn't it?  So why can't you make these modifications? 

So if you just do what the law requires, you're screwed either way but at least you took the moral high-ground.  I guess the simple moral approach is just not to buy these things since there's a moral dilemma in either case or you'd be screwed.  Why not just screw yourself earlier rather than later, it saves time and money.

I don't believe the ends justifies the means.  The problem comes from an abusive stance on private property rights.  I should be able to do whatever I want with my property.  When corporations monkey with this and gets government to go along with it, it creates these unintended consequences.

Posted by email from Anthony Martin's Weblog (posterous)