The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - The Second Amendment protects nuclear weapons!

Dangus · May 21, 2001, 11:04 PM

Once again. I definitely draw the line between ordnance and arms as follows:

Ordnance: Indiscriminate within a certain area, not designed to be, and difficult to, use against individual people, animals, or vehicles without indiscriminate destruction killing in the immediate area, and/or surrounding areas. Most forms of ordnance are crew served, or require crew support.

Arms: Weapons designed to attack specific invidivual targets, or multiple individual targets specifically. Each individual action performed by the weapon is likely to result in the destruction of one target and only that target. Arms may be capable of accidental indiscriminate destruction or killing, but are not gauranteed to do so. Arms do not typically require a crew to operate or support. It is also my belief that equipment relating to individual combat and protection are also included. Medieval texts fequently list armor as "arms". This leads me to include individual protective equipment and non-ordnance-bearing crew-served vehicles as arms. A battleship, if incapable of firing it's artillery, but capable of firing it's defensive .50 cals, would be acceptable under this, though quite certainly impractical. A tank, without capability of firing it's main cannon, but capable of firing it's .30 or .50 cals, would also count. Body armor is also absolutely protected under the second ammendment, it is an essential part of "arming" one's self.

Find me a text by a competent author who has ever referred to an individual "arming" themselves with a howitzer or a fully functional battleship!

May 21, 2001, 11:04 PM	#41
Dangus Senior Member Join Date: July 4, 2000 Location: IA Posts: 1,907	Once again. I definitely draw the line between ordnance and arms as follows: Ordnance: Indiscriminate within a certain area, not designed to be, and difficult to, use against individual people, animals, or vehicles without indiscriminate destruction killing in the immediate area, and/or surrounding areas. Most forms of ordnance are crew served, or require crew support. Arms: Weapons designed to attack specific invidivual targets, or multiple individual targets specifically. Each individual action performed by the weapon is likely to result in the destruction of one target and only that target. Arms may be capable of accidental indiscriminate destruction or killing, but are not gauranteed to do so. Arms do not typically require a crew to operate or support. It is also my belief that equipment relating to individual combat and protection are also included. Medieval texts fequently list armor as "arms". This leads me to include individual protective equipment and non-ordnance-bearing crew-served vehicles as arms. A battleship, if incapable of firing it's artillery, but capable of firing it's defensive .50 cals, would be acceptable under this, though quite certainly impractical. A tank, without capability of firing it's main cannon, but capable of firing it's .30 or .50 cals, would also count. Body armor is also absolutely protected under the second ammendment, it is an essential part of "arming" one's self. Find me a text by a competent author who has ever referred to an individual "arming" themselves with a howitzer or a fully functional battleship!