If donors talked with their donees they might also learn that vouchers cannot be used for needed items like pet food and that few merchants actually redeem them. I think it is high time that Silly Hall start thinking about us now. Just a suggestion, politically incorrect as it is. Because downtown merchants often fear that the presence of panhandlers drives shoppers away to suburban malls, attempts are made to criminalize begging. D. H. Myers , who was once homeless himself, argues that this very subjectivity opens the door for false accusations and incivility in turn to homeless people.
Civil libertarians assert that anti-panhandling laws curb free speech.
There is no evidence that panhandlers as a class are more prone to commit violent street crimes. If this is so, such laws are ineffective in enhancing personal security. San Francisco State Prof. Newspaper sellers get out of the panhandling market. Panhandling laws outlaw the market itself.