Sheldon Richman on Cops and the Non-Aggression Principle

Political philosophy — the libertarian philosophy
included — can take you only so far. The libertarian philosophy
provides grounds for condemning aggression, that is, the initiation
of force, and along with some supplemental considerations, it
identifies in the abstract what constitutes aggression, victimhood,
and self-defense. But the philosophy can’t identify the aggressor
and victim in particular cases; relevant empirical information is
required, and we cannot apply the theory of justice without
empirical information. No ethical or political theory can answer
empirical questions, yet they are critical to applying the theory
in order to determine who was the aggressor and who was the victim.
The same would be true, writes Sheldon Richman, if we observed an
unarmed person shot dead in the street and another person nearby
holding a smoking gun, even if the man with the gun is a white
member of a police force and the dead person is a young black man
who had no weapon.

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