Louis Ingenthron @LouisIngenthron@social.cleverlibre.org

@carnage4life Or because so much of their valuation is tied up in Musk's reputation that any vote of no-confidence in him is a major threat to their stock price. They're essentially held hostage already.

@freemo Oh come on. Some tools can be used as a weapon and some weapons can be used as a tool, but that doesn't make them interchangeable. A rifle is a weapon, not a tool.

@freemo Same reason we don't unduly restrict cars. Because they're tools, not just weapons. We can't overly restrict such tools and still have a functioning society.

@freemo Lol, "melee weapons" is not a category on the same level as "handguns". That's not a fair comparison.

If you want to do "melee weapons" vs "ranged weapons", that would work. Or likewise, "handguns" vs "pocketknives" would be comparable.

> So now the argument becomes “this weapon is used to hurt more people than other more deadly weapons, so THAT is the reason it should be illegal."

Yeah. Not illegal, but restricted for sure. If kids start murdering each other with katanas because it's a meme on TikTok or some such bullshit, then, yes, restrict the sales of katanas until that bullshit dies down. You could make the same argument for AR-15s. Don't ban them outright, but add an extra week of waiting period or a higher age limit so the dipshit radicalized young kids can't get their hands on the meme rifle as easy.

@freemo I suppose the counter-argument to that is that the number of homicides actually committed with the above-mentioned methods aren't remotely comparable either.

If there were a rash of high-profile mass-poisonings, I'd wager the same people *would* be calling for tighter restrictions.

@freemo I'm not denying the simplicity. But you have to draw the line somewhere, and this is a reasonable place to draw it. You can't stop people from buying gasoline or styrofoam, but you can make it illegal to combine them or sell branded napalm.

As for the poisons, "no restrictions" is nonsense. You're definitely going to get your ID checked when you buy poison, just like you do when you buy a lighter. It's not the full background check, but there will be *some* check that at least you're an adult, and it probably stores that ID swipe in some databank somewhere for future investigators.

@freemo Components are different. You can't reasonably stop people from making weapons. You can only place restrictions on purchase and ownership. The vast majority of people aren't interested in the effort it takes to make such things, and those that are are probably already being tracked by the feds.

@freemo I mean, I think the majority in this country is good with having your ID checked when you buy poison, explosives, or operate a heavy vehicle, so yeah.

@freemo To be fair, they usually make that argument about *mass* homicides, which are considerably easier to carry out with a gun than with a bat, garrote, or knife.

@kegill Yeah, but Democrats have been pushing for vote day to be a national holiday for a while now, so we can't complain about this too much.

@JoshuaHolland Seems unlikely. If regular cops don't have a legal duty to protect, then I can't imagine Texas' sanctioned military cosplayers do.

@johncarlosbaez And according to Wikipedia, the fat content in the milk determines how easily it curdles:

@johncarlosbaez Heating milk will cause it to form curds, so that sounds like what you're describing.

If you let it fully curdle up, you can add a bit of salt and then press it with a cheesecloth and you've essentially made fresh mozzarella.