Treating all guns as though they are always loaded, even after verification that they are not, is a wise discipline that prevents negligent discharge injuries and deaths, and it is analogous to a useful heuristic of valuing all human lives equally as a bulwark against the kinds of eugenic and genocidal evils that emerged from capacity-based discrimination in Nazi Germany.

normativepending

Speaker

Sam Harris

Evidence Quote

treat a gun as though it is always loaded...it is in fact true...it's not true that I actually believe...I'm engaged in a kind of religious ritual, right? And yet it is a truly wise one.

Source

Animal Minds & Moral Truths: A Conversation with Peter Singer (Episode #342)Sam Harris
Created: 8/12/2026, 6:38:38 PM

My Notes

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