This is a little nerdy but I keep hearing the same fundamental mistake over and over again whenever someone talks about the state having a "monopoly on violence." It's usually in the context of debating defunding the police or gun control, and it's usually voiced as a complaint.

The phrase comes from Max Weber, and it's a misquote. Weber defined the state as the holder of the monopoly on the *legitimate use of* violence. That's a big difference from simply "monopoly on violence." It's literally impossible for the state to monopolize violence.

The state can't stop you from punching a random person on the street in the face. It can punish you for it, but it can't stop you. So of course the state doesn't monopolize violence. However, it does monopolize *legitimate* violence, which is to say, violence that is perceived by

the public as legitimate. If I go out and tase someone for not following my orders, nobody would see that as legitimate. If a cop does, then, if they're acting within the law, it is largely perceived as legitimate, if not ideal. That's what the state has that nobody else does.

That's not to say cops can't use violence illegitimately — of course they can. But it does mean that civilians *cannot* use violence *legitimately,* except for in the narrow case of self-defense. And that's a good thing.

If actors outside of the state had legitimacy in their use of violence, then they would necessarily compete for sovereignty with the state, since, at the end of the day, laws depend upon enforcement, which is the use of legitimate violence. So then you have competing mini-states

within a common territory, which is to say, warlordism and balkanization.

At the end of the day, we're going to have violence, the question is whether it's administered bureaucratically and controlled through laws, or not. State violence isn't a good thing per se but it's

a necessary evil. Of course we should seek to diminish its use and its necessity, but the state should still monopolize the *legitimacy* of its use. The alternative is the jungle.