You are really just shifting the goalposts - the crime is imposed because of something the accused might subsequently do. It's harder to justify this with such images as opposed to handguns since a handgun is a weapon that can kill with immediate consequence, a image file is not. So if you find the criminalisation of handguns difficult to justify, it's arguably even tougher to justify this. Furthermore, can you get an illegal handgun for free?'Idle curiosity' as some may use as an excuse for such things may stoke further expressions of deviancy rather than sate any desires.
I'm not really following this - if somebody isn't paying for these materials, they are not creating a 'supply and demand' situation.Allowing the collecting and availability of such materials could be said to vindicate the production of the materials produced by an act of abuse.
Naturally, I'm not advocating for the legality of such behaviour since I find it morally repugnant, but it is very hard to justify the illegality for anything other than moral reasoning.
Last edited: