You can't shout "fire" in a crowded theater

John, you have obviously confused opinions and laws and then laws and ability. Shouting "Fire" is a legal issue and has been clarified above. Sure enough, you have the ability to do it, but that does not make it legal and since you are arguing morals, it certainly isn't moral if what you do is to shout fire about a fire that does not exist and incite a panic. If the panic you incite results in harm to people or facilities, then you are responsible for that, legally. The rest of your statements are statements of opinion about specific sets of circumstances, most of which are pretty darned naive in my opinion, but that is my opinion. Obviously, it is somebody else's opinion that we should mandate things like trigger locks.

You don't have the right to break laws. Sort of by definition, that is the case. If you do break laws, then the government has the legal justification to punish you if you are found guilty.

Just for the record, I have yell
 
That is interesting in the Schenck case that he was thrown in jail for critising the gov in time of war. How much time did Fonda and Kerry get for their stunts during Viet Nam.

Fprice and John2, that thingabout the crowded fire is not so far off base around here. I have seen people park there cars on the shoulder and median get out of there car and cross 6 lanes of 70 mph traffic to look at a house on fire when I drove a semi. Maybe around here it would be more appropriate to shout dumba** in certain situations. Needless to say I just took my truck out of gear and did not touch the brakes for said idiots. I am not going to jacknife my truck and die for idiots. There were firetrucks on the scene and people could have just dialed 911 if they wanted to help. I guess maybe I am strange for not wanting to watch somebody's tradgedy.
 
It seems to me like if I go into a theater and yell "FIRE!" that it should be an intrastate affair and have nothing at all to do with the US goverment or the US Bill of Rights.
 
You can't shout "fire" in a crowded theater
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I've never uderstood why people don't grasp the underlying concept behind the above - though somewhat inaccurate - quote.

The first time I heard it (as a school child) I understood it to mean that one cannot expect to do something that may create a dangerous situation, and not expect to face consequences for one's actions should a dangerous situation in fact arise from said action(s).

Of course I was raised in a very strange time. We had these people called parents, and our community was stacked to the rafters with them. Anything hinky started up, and there were one or more of our parents right in our faces. We couldn't hardly get away with anything! Man, times were tough. No time outs, no pleading Post-Traumatic Birthday-Clown Separation Anxiety Syndrome, no sir! Why we couldn't even get away with complaining that we had Diminutive Equine Deficiency Disorder to explain away our bad behavior.

And I believe we called Shelbyville... what was it? ...East Ogdenville back then, and I vaguely remember wearing an onion on my belt... I believe it was the style at the time...


With a :p to KSFreeman :D
 
Kinda makes you wonder when thinking about doing something illegal will get you arrested.

And don;t shout FIRE even if there is one. Pull the FIRE ALARM. Its there for a reason. Come to think about it, I wonder if pulling a fire alarm in a crowded theatre to cause a panic is any less legal then shouting fire :rolleyes:
 
Come to think about it, I wonder if pulling a fire alarm in a crowded theatre to cause a panic is any less legal then shouting fire
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The attorneys around here can correct me if I'm wrong, but it isn't about the means, it's about the intent.

A reasonable person would know that creating a panic could cause a stampede of people; possibly killing or injuring said people. So if the building isn't on fire, the only reason for the shout would be to panic and/or stampede people.

If there really is a fire (and one didn't set the fire) then anything (within reason*) one does subsequent to the fire to alert the patrons of the fire, didn't cause the panic; the fire did. Therefore it is not illegal to shout "FIRE" in a crowded theatre provided said theatre is already on fire.




*e.g. emptying one's 1911 into the ceiling for instance would probably be deemed unreasonable.
 
GOD GIVE US OUR RIGHTS.

MAN then trys to take them away with MAN'S LAWS.

You can't take a GOD GIVEN RIGHT AWAY. Like the right to keep and arm bears, er bear arms.

Just because there is a law on the books saying I DON'T HAVE A GIVEN RIGHT, that doesn't make it so. ETHICALLY, MORALLY OR PRACTICALLY.

NYC is the BEST EXAMPLE I can site. YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT to keep and bear arms with out the PERMISSION of the CITY?

I STILL retain that right. REGARDLESS of what a NYC lawyer (politcian) says.
 
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