Should Dueling be illegal?

[PressCheck]

I think that Alexander Hamition would support the ban.

 

[Cannonball888]

Only if it's water balloons at high noon. The wettest one will be deemed a rotten egg for all eternity.

 

[akodo]

I did mean Dueling as a formal, structured event, and, with either single Shot Pistols, or, only one Cartridge each, for whatever Pistols are agreed on by the participants.

This being the antipodes of what could usually be called a 'Gun Fight' of course.

A person challenged to a Duel, has the choice, the option, to refuse.

Okay, you want to legalize a competition where the goal is to attempt to kill or at least seriously wound the other person. The way this country works is everything in a certain class is legal unless there is a dang good reason for it not to be. In other words (as much as colleges seem to think otherwise) we have free speech that can be used anywhere with a rare few exceptions (no campaigning at polling places on the day of election) rather than a few restricted 'free speech zones' where you can say what you want. In the same vein, how do you argue that duels with single shot pistols should be allowed, but single shot rifles should be illegal? What about dueling with AKs?

Depends on the people. Adults are individuals, not livestock. It is not society's job to tell them what they can and cannot do with their lives, so long as they don't infringe on others' rights (without due consent).

The problem is no person is an island. Their death DOES effect the world around them. What do you do if you hire a guy to replace the roof of your home, give him a down payment, and then oops, he got killed in a duel! What if he still has a morgage on his home, is making auto payments but is upside-down on both.

It is not society's job to tell them what they can and cannot do with their lives, so long as they don't infringe on others' rights

except that is exactly what a duel is. If their aciton infringed on another's rights, there would be no need to resort to a duel, because law enforcement would step in and do their thing. This delegates duels to only those actions that don't infringe on your rights. In general this is insults. Part of the duel is societal pressure to 'stand up and be a man' or 'defend your action' or whatever. If there wasn't social pressure to HAVE a duel, then wouldn't the insulter just say 'f...k off, oh, and here's another insult about your mother!'

 

[Grey_Mana]

Well, your insurance should have the right to drop you retroactively for having dueled. No reason for sane people to cover your medical/funeral bills.

Likewise, the American with Disabilities Act would need an exemption, since nobody should have to accommodate the consequences of your dueling.

And there would need to be lawyers involved, or else every murderer would claim "we were just having a little informal duel".
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On the other hand, seems like a great business opportunity. Buy a little cruise boat, sail into international waters, let the paying particpants duel, and then sell the film. What better Valentine Day gift says I love you better than premeditated murder?

 

[woof]

I think all dueling should be via Russian Roulette. That way we can thin the ranks of the duelers by one with each duel. They should also be on TV. How much would you pay to watch?

 

[JimJD]

Ants replied:

You mean with banjos, don't you? Using guns would be a waste of ammo.

That's awesome.

Anyhoo... dueling? Really? Stop it, that's just silly.

 

[61chalk]

...How about paid per view of duels, but the duels are between convicted murders. They have too duel, the one that lives gets to go to jail for life, wouldn't this cut down on the number of inmates we are paying for by at least half....an it would make more room in jail for more....the money from pay per view could go to help the victims of crime, or even to local law inforcement..........ain't goin to happen is it....

 

[searcher451]

If your aim and intention is to make laywers rich and the surviving family members really really poor, then I suppose that it's a great idea. Why not put it on TV while you are at it and really make a fortune for someone? Or ... how about renting out the local football stadium and charging a hefty admission price to offset some of the legal fees involved? Some marching bands, a lot of fanfare, cheerleaders ... perfect.

Hate to say it, but this is a nutty thread and clearly isn't High Road. Or is it just me?

 

[CoRoMo]

You could imagine how our tort system would deal with this.

 

[2RCO]

How Can this have made 4 pages of replies? Seriously

 

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

Why hasn't this thread been deleted yet?

 

[rbernie]

Not deleted, but closed.