Public vs Private Property: THIS is what I mean

London police raided the home of actor Laurence Fox and arrested him for supporting the removal/destruction of surveillance cameras that are being installed all over the city. (Daily Mail)

You see, the cameras are public property. That is, they belong to the government. And the streets on which they’re being placed—that’s government property, too.

On the other hand, if six thugs walk into a shop, beat up the owner, put him in the hospital, and steal $100,000 worth of merchandise…the cops investigate briefly…long enough to realize they have no idea who the thugs were…and then abandon interest.

Because the store is private property.

If the store was a Congressman’s office, and the thieves stole a few wrist watches and punched the Congressman in the stomach, the FBI and six other agencies would launch a nationwide manhunt for them. Reporters at the New York Times would piss blood and demand the Pentagon place permanent snipers all over the neighborhood of the Capitol.

Public (government) property.

If the government owns a cow and a farmer owns a cow, the killing of the government cow is first degree murder with special circumstances. Killing a farmer’s cow is a story on the back page of a local newspaper. It runs for two days. Then a state of amnesia is declared.

Cut down a maple tree in a National Forest and you’re on the Most Wanted list. Cut down a six- hundred-year-old tree on private land for firewood, and 16 environmentalists show up and protest.

The invisible line that is the southern border is government property. If you and 50 of your friends stand there with weapons and face south, you’ll be arrested. Here’s a wrinkle: if you own a ranch there and you put up a barbed wire fence, even though it’s your land you’re “impeding the use of public property.” You’re also busted. The fence is taken down.