Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

You Have the Right to Bear Arms, Not “Electrical” Arms, Court Declares

posted by janrinok on Tuesday March 10 2015, @11:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the founding-fathers-didn't-have-tazers dept.

AnonTechie writes:

Massachusetts' ban on the private possession of stun guns—an "electrical weapon" under the statute—does not violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms, the state's top court has ruled.

The decision says ( http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/stungunMA-ruling.pdf ) (PDF) that the US Constitution's framers never envisioned the modern stun-gun device, first patented in 1972. The top court said stun guns are not suitable for military use, and that it did not matter whether state lawmakers have approved the possession of handguns outside the home.

The court, ruling in the case of a Massachusetts woman caught with stun gun, said the stun gun is a "thoroughly modern invention" not protected by the Second Amendment, although handguns are protected.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/03/you-have-the-right-to-bear-arms-not-electrical-arms-court-declares/

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
You Have the Right to Bear Arms, Not “Electrical” Arms, Court Declares | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 164 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2015, @07:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 10 2015, @07:30PM (#155640)

    And to the contrary, if the policemen are military, then the tools are military tools.

    So you think MRI machines, CAT scanners, the Bible, Quran, Torah, gasoline, pens, pencils, paper, gavels, computers... No, wait, this will save time - the military uses pretty much everything, nearly every job that exists in the civilian word has a military equivalent, so you're saying every tool and every thing are "military tools". The point of using descriptive adjectives is to narrow down the meaning of the word. If "military tool" is used a synonym for "tool", then you saying "[they] are military tools" is the exact same as saying "[they] are tools", and the phrase "military tools" is meaningless.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday March 10 2015, @11:30PM

    by khallow (3766) on Tuesday March 10 2015, @11:30PM (#155801) Journal
    Military tools are not arms in the Second Amendment sense. But I agree that the term, "military tools" are meaningless for precisely the reason you give.