Frankly, I’m less bothered by crime, which has gone down a lot since the 80s than by intrusive and outright abusive government. (Environmental factors may be in play here — there’s an interesting study about leaded gas use and crime out there.)

In fact, I consider some crime and violence to be the price we pay for living in a free society. But if we really want to fight it, we need to fix our schools, end the stupid “war on drugs”, guarantee higher educational opportunity to all who are smart enough, etc. Wholesale abuse of civil liberties by state-employed thugs is an unacceptable solution. This goes for every government agency, from the NSA to the Podunk, Pennsylvania police force.

As far as terrorism, think about this one… A few thousand people died on 9/11, and we’ve turned our Constitution into toilet paper as a result. Yet, 8 to 10,000 people per annum are murdered with firearms in the US, and we’re unwilling to enact reasonable laws because of the “Constitution.” Tell me, where’s the fucking logic?