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In democracies, laws exist to grant people freedom from the power of the state, not to grant the state freedom from the power of the people. Any laws that grant cops protection from the people are laws of a tyranny. We get only the protections of the state that our rights make possible and no more. Trading freedom for security gets us neither.

Correction: In democracies, laws exist to grant power to the state, not to grant people freedom from the state. For example, I'm guessing that in your nearest democracy, there's probably not a law granting you the freedom to stand still for more than a minute or lie down for more than a minute. The people's freedom is a default.

Now, perhaps what you were thinking of was that some laws have exceptions (that might be phrased as affirmative defenses). But those aren't granting freedom to the people, they are restricting law enforcement. It's like a "tax refund" — the government isn't giving you their money, it's returning your own money.

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I still think about this scene a lot because I've been there sheen relatively normal people casually talked about going to cities and shooting "democrats“ while also talking about the guns they were currently buying. I should have turned them in.

Criminals are not stupid and generally have no political leanings. This is already happening.

They'd be caught out too quickly.

"Hey, wait a second! Yeah, you're holding me at gunpoint but you're asking me to put the money in the bag? But real ICE would have just kidnapped me!"

How long? Negative three months, apparently: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/04/us/ice-impersonators-on-the-rise-arrests-made-as-authorities-issue-national-warning/index.html

And then how long until ICE agents start showing up with holes on the ground because property owners “thought” they were real street thugs trying to rob them? Is there even a way to tell the difference? ~wink wink~

Should happen more often, this aversion to civil violence is a bit like a game of "I drop my weapon, you drop yours" between governments and people, except governments never fulfill their part.

Like Russian opposition trying to do "everything by the law" until realizing the other side never was, it was just silent enough in killing and randomly vanishing people and pretending its just dumb thieves. The same is happening in the EU right now, they just don't know it yet.

Yep. The Germans coined a nice term, critically: Vorauseilender Gehorsam - pre-emptive obedience. Don't do it.

He didn't ever say that, actually. It was likely first said by an activist in New Zealand https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jefferson-injustice-resistance-quote/

why did you say the same thing twice

¿Por que no las dos?

Indeed, my thoughts exactly.

I do wonder how all the "violence is never the answer" folks will go if it comes to that. I think a lot of them would side with ICE, sadly.

Personally, I won't be upset if a would-be nazi meets an abrupt end to their career.

Funnily enough the "second amendment" crowd has been completely silent about all this shit. But people really have to use those stand your ground laws.