# What- OTHER THAN guns- do you think people can't be trusted with? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 20, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242 "2014-01-20T02:13:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/41 "2014-01-21T04:23:25Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > . . . If [Forbes](http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2013/03/20/the-greatest-retirement-crisis-in-american-history/) is to be believed, the baby boomers have managed to reach retirement age with less then 25K in their (averaged) nest eggs. . . . Woot! I’m above average. (It’s a relatively new thing.) I can’t be trusted with chocolate. If it’s in the same room, it’s in danger. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/42 "2014-01-21T04:35:52Z")
> [@jbarro](#): > > Actually, in my city, it IS illegal to use chemical pesticides. > > [http://www.halifax.ca/legislation/bylaws/hrm/blp-800.pdf](http://www.halifax.ca/legislation/bylaws/hrm/blp-800.pdf) > > Maybe you’d like to move here 🆒 > > Lawn care companies had to switch to natural products, and you can’t buy chemical pesticides in stores around here. Some people buy elsewhere and apply secretly though. Language… Every pesticide is chemical. You are 100% chemical. The word you’re looking for is “synthetic”. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/43 "2014-01-21T08:02:42Z")
I read in another recent thread that Dynamite was readily available until the 1970’s. Note that it uses the same active ingredient (nitroglycerin) as pills used in emergency by heart patients. (How about a _people CAN be trusted with_ thread? I was frustrated to learn pharmacies will not sell even 5 milligram of such a nitrate even in an emergency! Any idea how many 5mg sublingual tablets it would take to build a bomb? 😃 I assure you that drug has zero recreational value.) > [@toofs](#): > > Voting. > > Cite: California Proposition 8. California Propostion 1A. There are others. I’m afraid this was going to be my nomination also. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/44 "2014-01-21T08:07:34Z")
This message board. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/45 "2014-01-21T18:17:22Z")
Computers. People fill them with malware within seconds. Unprotected sex. Babby comes from whar? We need walled gardens for both, with testing and training before you “root” anything. ---
**Author:** ![British\_Bulldog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@British\_Bulldog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/British_Bulldog)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/46 "2014-01-21T18:29:13Z")
Money and trust itself. Give an inch and they will try to take a yard. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/47 "2014-01-22T04:05:02Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Electrical wiring. The shoddy job done by a home handyman today could cost someone else their life at a random point in the future. I’m cool with electrical work being restricted to trained and licenced professionals only. I’m an amateur and routinely fix professional installations. Electrical and plumbing. ---
**Author:** ![weemart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@weemart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/weemart)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/48 "2014-01-22T05:23:06Z")
I think some ppl should have limited internet access. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/49 "2014-01-23T16:59:55Z")
> [@LibrarySpy](#): > > Computers. People fill them with malware within seconds. You mean Windows, which I was going to post. But this way is more pithy. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/50 "2014-01-23T17:32:55Z")
Fine bourbon and expensive cars. I’m of a mind I should just confiscate all of it/them for the betterment of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/51 "2014-01-23T18:12:39Z")
> [@randompattern](#): > > Children Absolutely ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/52 "2014-01-23T18:15:02Z")
Some narcotics. We need to get a rational list of drugs that should be illegal based on scientific criteria. Marijuana probably doesn’t make that list, heroin probably does. Chemicals. I don’t think we should be allowed to play with mercury. Other chemicals with known health/environmental risks should be banned. Ditto insecticides and fertilizers. I’d like to add tobacco, but it would just usher in another prohibition-like crime wave. Although the OP said other than guns, I of course would ban guns. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/53 "2014-01-23T18:29:34Z")
Rearing children. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/54 "2014-01-23T18:30:19Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’d like to add tobacco, but it would just usher in another prohibition-like crime wave. We’ve got tobacco right where we want it. Legal enough to not have a thriving black market. But it’s regulated enough that generally speaking it’s hard for kids to get and hard for many people to afford, especially kids. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/55 "2014-01-23T18:37:44Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > We’ve got tobacco right where we want it. Legal enough to not have a thriving black market. But it’s regulated enough that generally speaking it’s hard for kids to get and hard for many people to afford, especially kids. But imagine how much healthier the nation would be if we could eradicate the stuff. The health care savings and increase in workplace productivity would be enormous. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/56 "2014-01-23T18:50:02Z")
Bullets I’m with Chris Rock on this. Have all the guns you want, the more the merrier! But bullets…mmmm, yeah, we’re gonna have to talk about that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/57 "2014-01-23T21:48:38Z")
Have we gotten to the point of this thread yet? Personally, I can’t wait to find out! ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/58 "2014-01-24T19:14:56Z")
Trans fats, as in “the government should be able to ban the manufacture and sale of transfats for the good of everyone’s health” ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/59 "2014-01-24T19:59:05Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Radiological material seems an easy one - Pu-239, U-235, Cs-137… I don’t care how cool it is you are \*not \*building a nuclear reactor as a hobby, young man. A kid actually did this - attempted to make his own backyard breeder reactor as a Boy Scout project. The cops found him after he’d already decided to dismantle it because it “alarmed” him. > **[David Hahn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn)** > > David Charles Hahn (October 30, 1976 – September 27, 2016), sometimes called the "Radioactive Boy Scout" and the "Nuclear Boy Scout" was an American nuclear radiation enthusiast who built a homemade neutron source at the age of seventeen. > A scout in the Boy Scouts of America, Hahn conducted his experiments in secret in a backyard shed at his mother's house in Commerce Township, Michigan. Hahn's goal was to build and demonstrate a homemade breeder reactor. While he never managed to build a reac... > [@](#): > > Hahn was a Boy Scout who received a merit badge in Atomic Energy and spent years tinkering with basement chemistry which sometimes resulted in small explosions and other mishaps. He was inspired in part by reading The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, and tried to collect samples of every element in the periodic table, including the radioactive ones. Hahn diligently amassed this radioactive material by collecting small amounts from household products, such as americium from smoke detectors, thorium from camping lantern mantles, radium from clocks and tritium (as neutron moderator) from gunsights. His “reactor” was a bored-out block of lead, and he used lithium from $1,000 worth of purchased[2] batteries to purify the thorium ash using a Bunsen burner.[1] > > Hahn posed as an adult scientist or professor to gain the trust of many professionals in letters, despite the presence of misspellings and obvious errors in his letters to them. Hahn ultimately hoped to create a breeder reactor, using low-level isotopes to transform samples of thorium and uranium into fissionable isotopes.[3] > > Although his homemade reactor never achieved critical mass, it ended up emitting dangerous levels of radioactivity, likely well over 1,000 times normal background radiation. Alarmed, Hahn began to dismantle his experiments, but a chance encounter with police led to the discovery of his activities, which triggered a Federal Radiological Emergency Response involving the FBI and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. On June 26, 1995 the United States Environmental Protection Agency, having designated Hahn’s mother’s property as a Superfund hazardous materials cleanup site, dismantled the shed and its contents and buried them as low-level radioactive waste in Utah. Hahn refused medical evaluation for radiation exposure.[2] ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242/60 "2014-01-24T20:28:35Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Have we gotten to the point of this thread yet? Personally, I can’t wait to find out! I don’t think we were supposed to provide any answers. It reminds me of _Jingo_, where one of the coppers intones “War, what is it good for?” and another, I think Nobby, gives several good answers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-other-than-guns-do-you-think-people-cant-be-trusted-with/679242.md?page=4)