Slashdot Mirror
Rocket Hobbyists Prevail Over Feds In Court Case
Ellis D. Tripp writes "DC District Court judge Reggie Walton has finally ruled in the 9-year old court case pitting the model rocketry community against the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The ruling is a 'slam dunk' for the rocketry community, stating that the BATFE ignored scientific evidence and overstepped its bounds by classifying ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) as an 'explosive.' Effective immediately, the BATFE has no legal jurisdiction over hobby rocket motors, and a federal Low Explosives User's Permit will no longer be needed in order to purchase APCP motors. The full text of the Judge's decision is reproduced at the link."
You know, I'm pretty sure if those wacky religious leaders weren't breaking the law, they'd be left alone. It's not as if we have any lack of wacky religions in this country, and until recently most of their leaders weren't merely being left alone - they were mostly running it. So don't go blaming the ATF for the suicidal things nutballs do when the cops come to say no you can't have dozens of 12 year old "wives".
Because if you think we should just let people willing to kill themselves be a law unto themselves, pretty soon you'll have a society where it's perfectly acceptable to fly airplanes into buildings. And I kind of have a problem with that.
While I support this move and people's rights to model rocketry, what you and your friends can cook up in your basement will never match my M-4. I can snipe from hundreds of yards or clear a house or shoot from the window of my car. I can also carry it slung tight in front with both hands free and carry hundreds of rounds quite easily. Meanwhile DoD has spent millions trying to get missiles to work properly. Good luck trying to get that to work on your own. And when you do, I'll kick down your door and take it from you. Just because it's new doesn't make it better.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Those are insidious, not rational arguments.
In the latest German shooting, the father of the shooter is being investigated for not storing the gun, used in the shooting, properly. The man had a total of 15 weapons of which only one wasn't in the strongbox it was supposed to be in. It was in the master bedroom. It so happens that a lot of fatal accidents with guns in the US are caused by guns kept 'under the pillow' as well. Not a very good argument for liberal gun-laws.
Gun laws in Germany specifically require you to a) take a test of mental stability before you can own a gun and b) store the weapons safely. Those laws seem to work a lot of the time but if someone doesn't do b) and someone else takes advantage of that to circumvent a) you're SOL, no matter what. As with most tragedies, a number of things need to go wrong before things really turn bad. This is a good example. Laws do work. The amount of gun casualties is incomparably lower in Germany.
That you bring up Russia, a third-world corrupt country, propped up by it's massive natural resources, is simply laughable. The only law that is really adhered to in ye ol' USSR, nay Russia, is the golden rule.
In other words, the rest of us is comparing civilized countries where the rule of law is upheld to other civilized countries and the conclusion can only be: liberal gun laws get a lot more people killed than strict gun laws, if properly upheld. The anti-social behaviour of people wanting to be able to 'defend themselves', at great cost to society at large, is despicable.
Karma? What's that again?