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Comment by Dramatize | Hacker News Reader

I guess you don't have kids?

I actually do - 4 & 1 3/4 years old. I also own these magnetic balls, and I haven't had any problems with them and my kids - except them losing some of them.

I allow them to play with it for a little, and then I put them in a safe place I know the kids can't get at them.

If I leave them on my desk, I know they will get it...so I don't leave them on the desk.

If a 12-year old is swallowing these things, there is something else going on in that household that needs to be addressed.

I guess it's a hard balance between protecting kids from poor parenting and freedom for good parents like yourself.

No it is not. The choice is freedom. Giving up freedom for perceived safety is never worth it.

Have to agree with this. Sacrificing liberty in chasing security achieves neither.

Groan. The debate isn't whether you should be free to own these things. The debate is whether companies should be free to market them as toys in the retail channel.

Or maybe the debate is whether an "adult's toy" is the same thing as a "kids toy"....and therefore deserves the same regulation.

Or rather, how does one treat the sale of adult toys.

What an impractical thing to say. We could have no laws at all if we followed that philosophy to its logical conclusion. We can't forbid theft, because that impinges on our natural freedom to obtain the things we want. We can't forbid public urination, because that means giving up our freedom to relieve ourselves wherever we like. And so on and so forth.

Living in civilization is all about giving up our freedom to do certain things in exchange for the protection and comfort that society offers.

I completely disagree.

Living in a civilization is about joining a social contract to not infringe on each others rights. (theft, rape, murder, etc infringe on the victims rights, where as buying Bucky Balls does not affect anyone but the purchaser)

When you sell tiny metal balls to teenagers on the auspices that those teenagers will scrupulously prevent them from being made available to toddlers, or else those toddlers might die, it's probably easy to argue that you're affecting people besides the immediate purchasers.

well.. the same thing could be said about allowing teenagers to drive a car on the auspices that they will not drive too fast, or text, or do any number of other stupid things... or else people might die. At some point you have to make people take responsibility for their actions.

Yes? Very yes? I say this not just as the terrified parent of a 13 year old: we are entirely too casual about letting teenagers get behind the wheels of motor vehicles.

So do we go after the car makers because irresponsible parents let irresponsible teens do stupid stuff while driving and some old lady got killed? Not so far.

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