Beccaria: Disarming Citizens "Encourages Rather Than Prevents Murder"

^{Category: Gun Rights}

Few non-British philosophers made as much of an impact on the ideology of the Founding Fathers as the great Italian philosopher-criminologist Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), whose work influenced Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia and may have led to the Eighth Amendment (prohibiting "cruel and unusual punishment"), among other things.

Although he was best known for his campaign against torture, public executions, and other barbaric practices, Beccaria's masterpiece Of Crimes and Punishments (1764) deals with a great many issues, including gun control, which Beccaria felt was counterproductive:

Can it be supposed, that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, and the most important of the code, will respect the less considerable and arbitrary injunctions, the violation of which is so easy, and of so little comparative importance? Does not the execution of this law deprive the subject of that personal liberty, so dear to mankind and to the wise legislator? and does it not subject the innocent to all the disagreeable circumstances that should only fall on the guilty? It certainly makes the situation of the assaulted worse, and of the assailants better, and rather encourages than prevents murder, as it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons.

While most 18th-century arguments in favor of gun rights emphasized revolution, Beccaria's argument more closely resembles that of today's gun rights activists. This is, incidentally, not the only area where Beccaria was well ahead of his time. His magnum opus, still very relevant in the age of Abu Ghraib and extraordinary rendition, is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of human rights.

See also:

• A Right to Bear Arms?
• On the Second Amendment
• Do We Need More Second Amendment "Judicial Activism"?