Problems Regarding The Magic Shop

[Agent Z]

So recently re-watched the episode where Giles accidentally sells Glory some items she needs to summon a demon and this episode just made me realize how the magic shop was probably not a good idea in hindsight. I mean, Giles sells items to a person who uses them for malevolent purposes. Even if he didn't know what Glory looked like, did it never occur to the gang they were unintentionally providing amoral people with the means to carry out evil deeds?

 

[Klaus Kartoffel]

Logic in Buffy?

A magic shop was cool and fitted to the Buffyverse (magic and all). Giles needed something to do since he wasn't Buffy's Watcher anymore and because he was just sooooo bored, unhappy and had no purpose, lol, and the group needed a better place for meetings than Giles' apartment.

did it never occur to the gang they were unintentionally providing amoral people with the means to carry out evil deeds?

Obviously not. Or better, it didn't occur to the writers. You remember the mummy hand in "Life Serial"? Looked and acted quite perilously but Giles didn't seem to have any problems at all with selling it to an unknown woman. Neither did Buffy or Anya.

 

[Priceless]

Great question and there definitely is a problem. But I guess Giles and the scoobies trusted the humans who would shop at the Magic Box, and they thought they could spot any demons who atempted to buy anything worrisome. Most demons/vamps must have known the slayers watcher now owned the Magic Box and they better steer clear unless they wanted to upset the slayer 🙂

They probably thought a God could get hold of anything they needed on the black market, or conjour it themselves, they wouldn't be buying legitimate goods from a legitimate retailer and watcher 🙂

 

[cryptwarmer]

The Magic Shop had that cool round back lit table that I love. Even though it's totally ridiculous for reading on. It makes me happy every time I see it.

 

[white avenger]

I don't think that Giles could be held any more responsible for selling magic potion ingredients than a gun shop owner should be for what his customer does with hid gun or ammunition after he leaves the shop. Certainly, there are extreme exceptions. and they would probably be pretty much the same in either example. Anyone obviously mentally unstable or emotionally challenged should be denied service.

Remember, magic doesn't kill people, people kill people.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

In "Checkpoint", the Watchers' Council called out Giles for having items that could be illegal and dangerous:

LYDIA
There are some very potent elements
here: focusing crystals, runic artifacts,
an amulet of Caldys. Also, this statue...
(holds it up)
Its removal from Burma is a felony
and when triggered it has the power
to melt human eyeballs.

GILES
(trying for the joke)
In that case I've severely
underpriced it.

And we know Glory bought something there without being recognized. Of course, the alternative was to allow the shop to fall into the hands of someone with possibly an antagonistic agenda (such as Doc), so maybe buying the shop was a good pre-emptive measure but it seems no one is performing the equivalent of record checks that would be needed if he was operating a gun shop. P.S. I wrote this before reading what white avenger had said.

 

[GwenRaiden]

Pretty lucky he had Anya working for him. Maybe she was the one who looked out for harmful/dangerous multiple purchases, and we just didn't see it.

 

[Taake]

I think the Magic Shop was "harmless" in the sense that most people bought stuff for fun and decorations, i.e. they didn't know what they were doing and Giles was counting on that. Is there an element of recklessness in that, certainly, as seen when he did sell that stuff to Glory who did know what to do with it. But I'm guessing 99% bought sage and not mummy hands... it doesn't necessarily excuse it, as Gile's new the risks of magic, but yeah.. I think it was an excuse on the show to keep Giles around, and employed, and to give the Scoobs a new hang out. There are problems when you think about it, but then there were problems with Giles keeping lots of demonology books in the school library as well.

 

[Fuffy Baith]

Of course, the alternative was to allow the shop to fall into the hands of someone with possibly an antagonistic agenda

exactly. Better Giles than Ethan Rayne. Ethan would probably encourage people and demons to do nefarious things with magic. At least this way the Scoobies might be able to spot someone doing something bad. Or discourage people from doing bad things. Maybe they shouldn't be selling anything that is only used for evil but I think between Giles and Anya even Willow, I trust their decisions about how to run a shop of magic.

 

[MarcoD]

In my opinion it was the logical next step. In the school library Giles could more or less put all his stuff without worrying about many people seeing it as very few students used it ever (some funny moments right there). The Magic Box was the perfect setting as we have all seen them investigating demons and paranormal happenings happily within earshot of customers browsing the shop.
All in all the people living in Sunnydale must have known something was going on. Statistics for random deaths and mysterious disappearances are quite obvious so they probably didn´t mind.
Having the occasional demon shopping there must have been a calculated risk and I do think they became more careful with selling items together that could be used for carrying out some evil deeds. (Anya knowing about most of the stuff anyway).

 

[white avenger]

To return to the comparison of the Magic Shop to a gun store, 99.99% of the people who buy guns do so for totally legal reasons, such as sport shooting, hunting, and self defense. The odds are probably pretty much the same with the Magic Box and its customers. The fact that a tiny minority of the people who buy material from Giles might use it in any harmful way should not in any way be seen as being typical of the customers.

The fact that Giles' merchandise can be used in a harmful way could be said just as truly for a used car salesman or a hardware store that sells kitchen knives and hammers. Almost anything, even the most harmless and everyday items can be misused, and that's in no way the fault of the manufacturer, shop owner, or salesman. Accountability lies with the user, who, either by conscious choice or negligence, actually causes the damage.

 

[Athena]

You could say that about any hardware/DIY store, selling saws, knives, hammers. You could say it about any department store, selling kitchen knives, rolling pins, irons. You could say it about a bicycle shop which sells chains. Or a supermarket that sells pillows and clingfilm. Or a clothing store selling scarves.

In the wrong hands, anything could be a weapon.