I've bitched about this before, but being that this is my blog I'm free to repeat myself (as well as say things over and over). The one thing the government has a legitimate claim to do is to punish criminals. Unfortunately, they've discovered that this is hard to do and instead have created a labyrinth of laws so complex that ever last man, woman, and child is guilty of something. Then, when the politicians' numbers are too low, they arrest a grandmother who purchased a set of assault-knitting-needles and claim they're tough on crime.

Even worse are victimless crimes. Prostitution is the first one to come to mind. I don't care for the practice but it's not my place to tell you that you can't pay for your nookie, which by doing so nobody is harmed, swindled, or deprived of property.

Even more egregious are victimless felonies. Felonies should be reserved for the most heinous of crimes and a crime isn't a crime if there isn't an identifiable victim. Let's take this example

Eric is a good father, little league coach, and a guardian ad litem for many children in his area. Because of his role, he has made a few enemies of people by trying to protect children, so he carries a concealed pistol with him.

One day, Eric needs to get stamps from the post office. He knows he can't bring his weapon into the post office, but is in a hurry and, being on a motorcycle, has no place to leave it. He enters the store to purchase stamps from an automated machine then leaves.

Eric is a felon.

Gun free zones are a joke and will only punish the law abiding by making them felons even though no person was harmed or deprived of property.

What brought this up for me is this story about the Atlanta Airport. Sometimes the law is wrong. Sometimes fixing it the proper way is impossible. Sometimes we have to make stands and get arrested to draw a light to the errors. But how can we do it without risking felony charges and losing all our rights we are fighting for?

(Pardon the poor typing. Injured a finger and it's damned near impossible to type)