Or little slips of gold or silver, encased in plastic so they're legally classified as a "novelty item" or "jewelry", but the grade & weight are stamped on them, so you know you're holding, for example, 5 grams of 24K gold, and you know the exact value of it (pending knowledge of current precious metals, of course, but what's stopping you from downloading the Kitco app?). But hey, it's not actual (paper/coin) money, so there's no legal issue ;)

One of the primary reasons for having a militia is to counteract a standing army in case the government decides to use that army to enforce unethical laws (i.e. tyranny).

It has been made into a privilege. Licenses, permits, background checks, waiting periods, paperwork fees of up to $ 500 or more (hello, New York), "letters of necessity", medical examinations... There are plenty of restrictions.

Thank you, someone else with an understanding of the difference between a man-portable "arm" and a WMD/ordnance. http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

It's not a strawman. If you're going to hold the Constitutional Amendments to a strict interpretation of the technological limits of the time, be consistent and hold all of them to the same limit.

If you're not going to hold the amendments to the historical technological limits, then your previous argument is invalid.

What you're calling a "strawman", is a thorough refutation of your argument. But just because you don't like it, doesn't make it a strawman.

Regarding the question of what TYPES of weapons are/should be covered by the 2nd Amendment:

Based upon the strict literal interpretation of the meaning of "bear", the only weapons that are covered are those that can be "borne", i.e. carried by 1 person. This specifically excludes things like crew-served weapons, such as SAWs, mortars, artillery, etc., and complex machinery such as tanks, jet fighters, and combat ships, all of which require a crew and/or a support structure.

Things like biological / nuclear / chemical weapons are not covered, either, since they're not "arms" but rather "weapons of mass destruction". The key differences are: a.) the effects of NBC's cannot be restricted to any one person / target in particular (i.e. you CAN target a pistol round to harm only 1 individual, you canNOT target a nuke or a cloud of sarin in the same way), and b.) they're likely to cause permanent and extensive damage to structures, biosphere, and environment, i.e. the effects of the weapon will persist much longer than the tactical significance of the target.

So, no tanks, nukes, jets, artillery pieces, neurotoxin SCUDs. Regardless of whether you can afford it or not. Arms, yes. Weapons of mass destruction, no.

The more laws with vague definitions & variable enforcement exist, the easier it is for the State to suppress whomever it wants to. It's not "unenforceable", it's there so they can gain entrance under another pretense and, oh, hey, lookitthat, a 3D printer! *handcuffs*.

Yeah, and because one more law would have stopped a delusional, homidical maniac.

Reality according to US Congress:

• A psycho decides to murder children / shoot up a mall full of people
• The psycho gathers firearms, ammunition, and/or explosive devices
• The psycho heads out to the school / playground / mall (full of nicely unarmed victims, no potential resistance)
• The psycho sees a sign that says "Gun-Free Zone"
• The psycho says to himself, "Oh noes! No guns! What am I going to do? Well, I guess I'll just go home now." :(
• The psycho goes home & goes back to watching TV
• ?????
• PROFIT!

NAILED it!

Vague laws & variable enforcement = pathway to tyranny.

You can be arrested for even being suspected of having illegal gun parts - high-capacity magazines, silencers & fittings, automatic sears (yes, Citizen, a cube of metal 1/2" on the side can equal 5 years in jail...), even rubber O-rings that can be qualified as being "potential parts of grenade launcher attachments". Vague definition = arrest, fine, jail time, and a ruined life... for a piece of metal or an O-ring.

Meanwhile, David Gregory can wave around a highly illegal high-capacity magazine on public TV, and the DA will "decline to prosecute". Because the law that will land YOU in jail doesn't apply to the Ruling Class. Variable enforcement = some people are above the law.

So, by the same logic, let's shut down:

• wikipedia.org - plenty of medical information there
• RXList.com
• WebMD.com
• WrongDiagnosis.com
• Healthatoz.com
• DrKoop.com
• Merck Manual at www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual/
• ...and about 1000 more

Oh noes! Medical information out in the open! How dare those peasants make decisions for themselves! We must protect them from themselves! ...etc.

Yeah, let's deny information (however flawed it may be, it's better than nothing) to people with a capacity for independent thought, for the sake of coddling & protecting the morons.

Absolutely. It's "the tyranny of the moron over the intellectual" - because a few idiots might misinterpret/misuse/get hurt by something, let's BAN it for EVERYONE.

OK, so they screw up once in a while. It's your responsibility to take ANY medical advice with a grain of salt, and to seek a 2nd opinion. Which is why there's that entire concept of a "2nd opinion", that's been around for centuries.

But noooo, we can't have that, let's shut down the information for EVERYONE because SOME people might misinterpret, or because there's a TINY error chance in the testing process.

Typical American attitude - "this might annoy/damage some morons, so let's shut it down for everyone".

So they're new, unproven, and questionable. The alternative is not knowing at all. Given the choice of "incomplete data" vs "NO data", I'll take the 1st, thank you very much.

Keywords: "learned", "listen", "consider", "reading myself". You're not a moron, so you think about things before making a decision. But, the FDA is not basing their decision on you - they're basing it on the possibility of some idiot doing something rash because they've heard they have a possibility of getting some disease. And, because we live in the age of "tyranny of the moron over the intellectual", their decision is "protect the moron, deny the intellectual".

...seems to be the ongoing policy of US Government in general, and of the FDA in particular.

Just as they've held up the approval of 15-minute DIY HIV test kits (Orasure et al), now they're blocking access to this information. Same principle: "Because we're worried that a few morons can't understand the data, we're going to screw EVERYONE indiscriminately".

Same result: 100,000's of potentially preventable HIV infections occurred in the years the quicktests were delayed, now 100,000's of people will be denied the knowledge of potentially life-threatening illnesses and the possibility of preventative maintenance.

Way to go, FDA. Let more people get sick & die so Big Pharma profits. Motive couldn't be more transparent of it was made from Trivex.

On a larger scale, I wonder if the age of "tyranny of the moron over the intellectual" will ever come to an end.