Government has to be in charge of private force

Reader comment on: Mexico Gas Privatization
in response to reader comment: Government's proper sphere

Submitted by Harry Binswanger (United States), Jul 18, 2017 09:27

"The Future of Capitalism" responded with a quite reasonable question about private force-users (e.g., security guards).

They are fine, when they are authorized by and subject to the control of, the government. The government's monopoly on the use of force does not mean that private use of force is forbidden--just that that the private use of force must submit to the legal system.

When a bank security guard shoots someone, he, like any private citizen, may have to prove in court that he was doing so legitimately, as an agent of the bank's right of self-defense.

Security guards are quite willing to do this--in dramatic contrast to anarchistic criminal gangs, like the Mafia, the KKK, or the Brown Shirts.

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