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from the now-they-can-play-ping-pong dept.
Judge rules against New York state ban on nunchucks
A federal court has ruled that that a New York state ban on possessing nunchucks is unconstitutional. Judge Pamela Chen issued the ruling about the famous martial arts weapon last Friday in a Brooklyn federal court, according to The Associated Press.
The news service noted that Chen's ruling recounted the history of the nunchucks ban, which was instituted in New York in 1974 "out of a concern that, as a result of the rising popularity 'of 'Kung Fu' movies and shows,′ 'various circles of the state's youth' — including 'muggers and street gangs' — were 'widely' using nunchaku to cause 'many serious injuries.'"
The plaintiff in the case, James Maloney, was charged with possession of nunchucks, two rigid rods connected at one end by a chain or rope, in his home in 2000. Maloney initially filed a complaint in 2003. The AP notes that he was mainly focused on getting that part of the law that bans nunchucks even in private homes overturned.
Chen said in her ruling that the court couldn't just take that part out of the existing law. She ruled that the state law as it pertained to possessing the weapon was in violation of the Second Amendment.
The judge also found that banning the manufacturing, transport, or disposal of nunchaku was unconstitutional.
The case has a long history:
In 2003, attorney James M. Maloney, then a recent graduate of Fordham Law School and a Master of Laws candidate at NYU Law School, brought a pro se federal constitutional challenge to the New York nunchaku ban, seeking a judicial declaration that it is unconstitutional to make in-home possession of nunchaku for peaceful use in martial-arts practice or home defense a crime. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York initially dismissed Maloney's Second Amendment claim based on prior case law that the Second Amendment applied only to federal action, and this decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. However, on June 29, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari, vacated the decision of the Second Circuit, and sent the case back for "further consideration." It took this action in light of its decision in McDonald v. Chicago, which held that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms," protected by the Second Amendment, is made applicable to the states by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. At her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 14, 2009, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, referring to the Maloney case and to "nunchuk sticks," opined that "when the sticks are swung... that swinging mechanism can break arms, it can bust someone's skull." In the U.S. Supreme Court's decision of June 29, 2010, in Maloney v. Rice, it is noted that "Justice Sotomayor took no part in the consideration or decision."
As of 2018, the case remains ongoing in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, with District Attorney Madeline Singas as the sole named defendant. Singas has argued that nunchaku are "dangerous and unusual" weapons that may be banned totally even for peaceful use in martial-arts practice or home defense. On December 14th, 2018, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York found the ban unconstitutional.
(Score: 3, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday December 19 2018, @06:51AM (29 children)
If someone accosts me with nunchucks and actually demonstrates any effectivenezs better than their bare fists, they can have my money. They earned it.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 4, Funny) by Arik on Wednesday December 19 2018, @07:22AM (28 children)
That said, the only time I've seen someone take a good hit from one was when someone (who was extremely good with them) apparently lost his concentration for an instant at just the wrong time and knocked himself unconscious.
Their use as a weapon dates to a time when of extreme 'gun control' if you will, when peasants were forbidden defensive arms, and the virtue of the thing was that it was NOT a weapon - but a rice flail. Something peasants were allowed to have.
In modern times, I'd suggest viewing them as a training aid, to help develop qualities like concentration and range awareness, or just for fun; but the best way to use them in a fight is to throw them.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @08:35AM (6 children)
Why? Are modern people banned from threshing their own rice or pulses?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Funny) by Arik on Wednesday December 19 2018, @08:48AM (5 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @10:20AM (4 children)
There has to be something about wood, you say.
'Cause having lead bullets flying around at high speed doesn't seem to produce the same effect. Their closest to what you describe is clearing the brain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 19 2018, @03:14PM
Consider this.
Having a piece of high speed flying wood flinging around you tends to keep the mind focused if one has the necessary equipment to be called "dude".
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday December 19 2018, @11:39PM (2 children)
The nunchaku handle will be under your control, and if you twitch and knock yourself silly all your mates will laugh at you laying on the floor drooling.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @11:59PM (1 child)
Either you hold the gun and the bullets are under your control or you don't hold the gun, so the most control you can exert over them is to put at least an obstacle between you and the source of the flying bullets (so, limited, but still a certain amount of control, which personally won't give up without trying to exercise it)
Laughing mates would be the least of my worries. Of which I don't have any - since I'll keep nunchaku folded and safe iff I need to carry it at all.
Even more so in urumi's [google.com] case
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday December 20 2018, @01:47AM
Wrong.
Either way, once the trigger is pulled, the bullets are beyond your control.
Unless you have more powerful magic than I have seen.
The stick is on the end of a bit of rope on the end of another stick, you're literally in control of it the entire time.
Which makes it so much funnier when the guy next to you knocks himself out.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @08:39AM (4 children)
The pair was made from a wonderful wood, attached by a length of soft rope. It was a sight to see. One handle swung around after the other.
Until one minor mistake led to him being bashed in the back of the head.
Chunks of ceiling were gouged out.
Yes. A good tool to practice with. You might get one good swing but if it bounces then it could hit you.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:51AM (3 children)
I prefer the European-style nunchucks [medievalcollectibles.com], far more effective. Crunch!
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday December 19 2018, @06:08PM (2 children)
Most of those things pictured are variations of the MorgenStern, but most medieval flails were a lot simpler, and didn't have spikes. They were still pretty good at smashing armor.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday December 19 2018, @06:40PM (1 child)
In the hands of the untrained, they are only marginally less self-destructive than nun-chunks.
Articulated weapons are cool, but you gotta invest a lot more time to properly learn them.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday December 20 2018, @08:42AM
Well, I was deliberatly vague about who the "Crunch!" applied to...
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:03AM (10 children)
In my Kung Fu club the advice for how to use a nunchuck (or more especially the 3-section-staff) is to give it to your opponent.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:10AM
That's actually clever. Especially in New York. At least until now.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:39AM (5 children)
They're telling us that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were wrong? Michaelangelo wasn't a good role model??
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @10:31AM (2 children)
Pssst... Santa doesn't exist either
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @01:04PM (1 child)
We all know Santa is a lie, it's an anagram for SATAN.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @01:24PM
Ho, ho, [demonic laughter]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @01:34PM
I have seen version of TMNT where Michelangelo had his Nunchucks replaced by some sort of a rope and hook implement. No doubt out of abundance of concern "for the children."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @09:33PM
Nah... its safe for Michaelangelo cause he has no genitals, so no accidental wood on wood.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday December 19 2018, @02:14PM (1 child)
"The 36th Chamber of Shaolin [wikipedia.org]" teaches us that the three-part staff is the perfect weapon to defeat an opponent armed with two swords. So there is that.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday December 19 2018, @06:11PM
Perhaps....*IF* you are sufficiently skilled. You did say the 36th chapter, so presumably by the time you get to that you've got a lot more than entry level skill.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1) by Arik on Thursday December 20 2018, @01:55AM
1. Raise the chucks dramatically, making animal noises.
2. Flip the chucks around your body in whichever pattern you are most comfortable with, at a decent speed without knocking yourself silly.
3. Shrewdly absurd the affect your display is having. If bully boy is no longer advancing, good, proceed to peaceful resolution.
4. If he IS still advancing, chuck the chucks directly at his face as hard as you can and immediately charge in behind it.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Wednesday December 19 2018, @02:05PM (2 children)
In other words, they're basically a club.
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday December 19 2018, @05:37PM
So you're saying that people in New York can finally go clubbing again.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday December 19 2018, @11:34PM
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by RandomFactor on Sunday January 06 2019, @01:46PM (1 child)
Nunchaku are extremely effective and can be very flashy if that is the desire. It is no longer an obscure weapon however and anyone that sees one today (post Bruce Lee) knows exactly what it is.
Basic and effective use as reinforcement e.g. lay the stick along your forearm while blocking or held solidly to extend strike range. Nasty traps and disarms.
Move through your forms/kata with them naturally controlling/reinforcing the various moves naturally. Then move on to the flashy stuff,swinging transfers strikes stops.
It would be a rarity to see someone who practiced and was proficient with them make a mistake such as you mention.
Now if you really want to see a weapon as dangerous to the wielder as to the opponent, watch someone using a Triple Staff (a 3 section nunchaku with longer sticks). Much respect for the guys that don't beat themselves unconscious with those :-)
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:34PM
I think it could happen to anyone, anytime you're swinging a stick around yourself very quickly with minimal clearance, it's a risk. I've actually seen people knock themselves silly with a simple staff as well.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?