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Not sure whether you're crititicizing the U.S. gov't. for imposing limitations on speech or guns or the Canadian gov't. for the gun control laws here. Interesting point-- Having grown up in New York I know of many areas where I wouldn't go/live without a gun. In Canada maybe parts of Montreal, T.O. or even Winnipeg. But generally, you don't need a gun in Canada, so there is gun control. Why should I need one in the states? Not sure what your point is, nor mine for that matter.Well, I have the privilege of being able to dive, but I have the right to free speech and to bear arms. The government can impose limitations on my diving, but not on my free speech or gun ownersh....,,,?
Oh, wait...
Not sure whether you're crititicizing the U.S. gov't. for imposing limitations on speech or guns or the Canadian gov't. for the gun control laws here. Interesting point-- Having grown up in New York I know of many areas where I wouldn't go/live without a gun. In Canada maybe parts of Montreal, T.O. or even Winnipeg. But generally, you don't need a gun in Canada, so there is gun control. Why should I need one in the states? Not sure what your point is, nor mine for that matter.
In an ideal world ... or even the world as it existed 50 years ago ... this would be the case. In the world we live in today ... sadly ... it is not.Diving is neither a privilege nor a right. It is just an action that is there for the taking by those who choose to make the effort to do so. JYC, HH and others did not ask anyones permission to dive, they just did. It is only now that we debate right vs privilege because most of us don't want to make the effort required to do anything outside the social norm. We want someone else to bless our acctivity and we only want to dive in a few select spots - mainly because someone else tells us that they are the places to go.
If I want to dive I just need to find or build some device to capture and supply air at depth. This is one reason why a study of history is valuable because there one can read many many accounts of people doing just that. Then I drive until I find water. There's a lot of it out there and the state can't/won't police it all.
It's the same up and down the California coast. Only a few areas where diving is regulated in any way. As long as you obey Department of Fish and Game restrictions as to what you can take out of the water, and the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act restrictions as to what you can touch and harrass underwater, it's almost complete freedom.As for the ideal world - I live in it now. Except for a few dive locales I can go and dive where I want when I want. 99.9 pecent of the coastline is uninhabited and most of the inland waterways have no one even considering visits from scuba divers. I recognize that some people may not have that luxury but I bet many would find far less restraint if they were less choosy about where they wanted to dive. There is a whole subset of divers (largely silent) who just go out and dive below the radar day in and day out and could care less what the rest of the world does.
If diving is a privilege that some entity or entities bestows on you then everything else you do short of the things specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights are also privileges and that brother ain't my definition of freedom.
...And again, taking control of ones own experience and opting out of "group think" does not automatically mean one is going to be irresponsible or get it wrong. To me it is the difference between worrying about what you (meant in the general sense) are doing or worrying about what I am doing....