via Dan at Now I Know
The Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, pictured above is a thermonuclear bomb weighing a relatively light 7,600 pounds. It is roughly twelve feet long and three feet in diameter. Like most nuclear weapons, it can cause a great deal of destruction upon its detonation. Unlike most nuclear weapons, we managed to lose one.
Mikeb, you're sounding like Laci. Why is it that I have to keep telling your side that the Second Amendment doesn't apply to nukes? My side doesn't usually need that reminder.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't apply to nukes because they didn't exist in 1790. I guess that means it doesn't apply to semi-auto pistols and AR-15 rifles.
DeleteNo, it doesn't apply to nukes because they're a completely different class of weapon from the ones described by the Second Amendment.
DeleteI'm curious, Greg. When do you suppose the distinction between classes of weapons began to be applied to the Amendment?
DeleteWhen it was written. If you'd do a little reading about the use of the term, arms, or even listen to those of us who know what we're talking about, you'd understand this.
DeleteMike, a modern nuke has literally three trillion times the energy of a rem .223 cartridge. So because we've agreed that a line should be drawn somewhere well before we reach 3x10^15 ft/lbs of energy, you take that to mean it is ok to throw someone in prison over the shape of the grip bewteen two otherwise identical 1,200 ft/lb energy devices? This is the way you think?
DeleteTS For the Win!
DeleteTS, I'm glad to hear you say "we've agreed that a line should be drawn somewhere."
DeleteDoes that mean we've never heard the "shall not be infringed" bullshit from you? And we never will?
I'm glad you and I are in agreement on this at least. Now we're just haggling on where to draw the line.
I want the line drawn so as not to include devices that can vaporize entire metropolitan areas, you want the line drawn so you can arrest someone for possessing a stock that can slide several inches to accommodate different arm lengths. I'd say we're a bit off.
DeleteWhat you are doing here, Mike, is affirming the concerns of gun owners when they argue that we are on a slippery slope. We've accepted some limitations, therefore all limitations are in play in your mind. Can't have nukes? Great, that means we can take away boxes with springs in them! Give me a break, mike. Stocks, grips, shrouds, and magazines aren't even the parts that go boom. To use nukes as an excuse to ban those means you can ban anything in the world. A toothpick is closer to a rifle in destructive capability than a rifle is to a nuke.
By the way, just because "arms" does not include nukes, doesn't mean that the right to keep and bear arms that are protected shall not be infringed. By you logic, if we don't recognize the church of the Flying Spagetti Monster as a protected religion, that means there is no right to practice Christianity.
DeleteSomehow, the concept of pulling it from someone's cold, dead hands seems irrelevant here.
ReplyDeleteI missed the part where 'bear arms' excluded military arms. Seems unlikely that the founders screwed up since the musket was the AR 15 of its day.
ReplyDeleteBTW, did private merchant ships also have cannons on board? Or, were they infringed?
orlin sellers
"... did private merchant ships also have cannons on board?"
DeleteThey sure did!
And absolutely nothing stops anyone from making and operating a cannon today because making a cannon is exceedingly easy. All you have do is make a deep hole in one end of a large steel "rod". And then you drill a tiny hole through the side into the big hole. That's it.
Firing one is equally easy. Pack some gun powder into the bottom of the hole and then stuff a steel ball wrapped in a piece of cloth in there. Stick a fuse in the small hole, light it, and cover your ears.
If you don't like the fuse approach, then you can simply use a contact primer for muzzleloaders. They cost something like $4 for 100 primers. Kaboom!
Merchant vessels often were armed, but their captains could get a letter of marque to be authorized to attack enemies of the nation on the high seas.
DeleteMikeb forgot the 'to keep' part of bear arms. I'd love to have an atomic bomb, but I don't have a place 'to keep' it.
ReplyDeleteorlin sellers