Ahh , see therein lies the issue . Most Libertarians I know believe in a standing police or military force for defensive purposes . If a band of thugs started to rise in number , terrorizing people , it would be the time for that defensive government function to come into play . I ' m a huge fan of entrapment set goods out , watch thieves come and bust them . I may be in the minority here , but I feel like taking property should be equivalent damaging someone physically . After all , time money , and when you have items that took you large amounts of time to buy , when those are stolen , it ' s a theft of your life time , or effectively the same as hurting you physically I would assert . It ' s the same when the government takes from your paycheck for foreign wars , wall street bailouts and the department of education which , since inception , has not resulted in a better education then preDoE times .