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

posted by janrinok on Tuesday March 10 2015, @11:28AM   
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/

• Benjamin Franklin and electricity (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 11 2015, @12:23AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 11 2015, @12:23AM (#155830)

  Benjamin Franklin [...] who according to folklore 'discovered' electricity

  That's the illiterate's interpretation.

  Franklin discovered that lightning is electricity.
  He went on to invent the lightning rod, which prevented a lot of buildings being burned down due to a lightning strike.

  He also duplicated other people's designs for static electricity generators and played around with those.

  Galvani is generally credited with discovering electricity in a dead frog's leg.
  Volta put electricity on the road to usefulness by inventing the Voltaic Pile (the battery).

  -- gewg_

  Parent