Panhandlers Are Public
October 14, 2003
We only have panhandlers at our doors (kids selling magazines, Jevhovah’s Witnesses, Greenpeace activists, etc.) thanks to public property–roads, sidewalks, etc. Such people are banned at condominiums and malls (unless government judges force the owners to admit them), and they would not be allowed in private neighborhoods.
Some towns, attempting to mimick this, required door-to-door solicitors to register, in an attempt to dissaude them. The Jehovah’s Witnesses sued, and the Supreme Court overruled the towns on grounds of “free speech,” as if these people have a right to enter your property and blab at you without your permission.
The Best of Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., former editorial assistant to Ludwig von Mises and congressional chief of staff to Ron Paul, is founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, executor for the estate of Murray N. Rothbard, and editor of LewRockwell.com. He is the author of Against the State and Against the Left. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

