Maybe Even Trilobites
By L. Neil Smith. October 12th, 2018. (lneil@netzero.com)
PATREON:https://www.patreon.com/lneilsmith
Attributed to L.Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise
Every single bird and mammal I can think of, even some reptiles and fish, will exhibit something that ethologists call "threat display" whenever it feels menaced. Dogs and cats, horses and cattle, geese and pigs all engage in what amounts to a form of violence reducing behavior, growling, snarling, puffing up with poison spines, spitting, and assuming various combative postures that tell an enemy, a rival, or a predator, "Better back off, or you're gonna get hurt." I even had a cuddly big pet rabbit once, who would snort, bare his teeth, and charge you with his big front claws if he didn't like the cut of your jib.
Animals, especially predators, are all pretty good at risk assessment. I'm absolutely certain, as an enthusiastic student of evolution, that dinosaurs had different kinds of threat display mechanisms, too. Maybe even trilobites. They do their thing and they stay alive.
On the other hand, just suppose you're walking down a badly-lit sidewalk in any town or city in this or practically any other country, when you're suddenly approached by half a dozen tough-looking young punks. They could be a murderous gang of thugs out to "make their bones" or just the local hockey team. But if you pull out your 6 1/2 inch nickel-plated Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum, and simply hold it down beside your leg, you could be arrested for "brandishing" and your attractive, shiny, valuable weapon stolen from you by sticky-fingered cops.
....... 
Neil gives some thoughts in his inimitable style regarding how animals can have a threat display but for people, possibly not so much! As a Libertarian he considers everyone should be able to implement their rights and be armed if they so wish - something to better solve problems than create them.
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