@limitgov: All three of those scenarios fall under what I call “The Bully Problem” here. A certain amount of division-of-labor and specialization in the production of security services is required to solve these problems. However, it should always be kept in mind that the State makes problems worse in this regard. Hiring a private bodyguard or private security agency to provide protection makes sense for a lot of people but the market is extremely restricted and generally non-existent at the low end (just like with low-end private education… you can’t compete with free). Hence, the State creates a scarcity in the production of security services for the protection of the life and property of private individuals, while it creates a sufeit of security services for itself and its buddies in the private sector.
Clayton -