What a great line--"trust isn't transitive."

As someone who makes a living writing and teaching about trust, I'm jealous--wish I'd thought of it!

It's exactly right. It's the same reason that the value of a social network liked LinkedIn drops off radically past one degree of separation.

It's the same reason I might buy an expensive instrument or piece of art on eBay after scanning "trust ratings," but I sure as heck wouldn't introduce someone to my daughter on the same basis.

It's the same reason I might tell my current problems to a seatmate on a plane who I'll never see again, but not to a business acquaintance. Whereas I might lend money to a business acquaintance, but not to a seatmate on a plane whom I'll never see again.

Trust, like many things human, is indeed not transitive. The decay rate of trust declines considerably as you change the venue of the original trust relationship. Guns just amplify the gravity of the issue at hand.

In fact, trust can't exist without risk. It's precisely the risk we take when we say, "Well, he does pretty well with a 747--maybe I can trust him with a gun?" Well, probably you can--but it ain't guaranteed.

Ronald Reagan lied when he said "trust but verify, " because if you have to verify, it ain't trust. But in this case, his advice would have been right--a whole lot of verification should be required of someone with a gun in a plane, verification that consists of things a lot closer than the ability to fly a large plane.