James Taranto at OpinionJournal.com has a creative idea for dealing with panhandling. He notes this AP story from New Rochelle, N.Y., where the city apparently tried to enforce the old loitering-for-begging statute struck down long ago. See Loper v. NYPD, 999 F.2d 699 (CA2 1993).

What a country we live in, where a bum accosting strangers asking for money is "free speech," but donating money to a candidate so as to further a political cause is subject to heavy government regulation.

But wait. That gives us an idea of how to solve the panhandling problem. Why not make it a misdemeanor to give money to a panhandler? Surely this violates no one's free speech; it merely prevents a commercial transaction that hinders the quality of life. The law would likely spur less defiance than laws against panhandling itself, since citizens who have money tend to respect the law and don't gain anything by giving vagrants money anyway. And who wouldn't be happy to brush aside an aggressive beggar by saying, "Sorry, it's illegal."