Today in America, it is legal for a man to openly carry an "AK-47 like" rifle but he will be arrested for carrying a collapsible police-style baton in his backpack without a valid concealed-carry permit. SMDH
Serious question here: What is the difference between a base ball bat and a police style baton, ? I would assume they would do just as much damage if you used either to hit someone ( or something say a windscreen / windshield), in which case it makes this law rather er pointless eh.
@SamYourEyes @zleap I think my question is if you are going to regulate a bat or baton why wouldn't you regulate the weapon that kill multiple people from a distance.
As I understand it, it comes down to the 2nd Amendment,. The right to bare arms and form a militia.
Written in 1776 or maybe just after.
@zleap @SamYourEyes Well, it comes down how #SCOTUS is interpreting the Second Amendment right now - and it is a recent phenomenon.
I am from the UK, so not American, I feel that if you could take a time machine, go back and bring George Washington, Jefferson and the others who signed the constitutions back then forward to 2023 and showed them some news reports of mass shootings, or even just everyday shootings of innocent kids going to the wrong house in error they would be Horrified.
.
@zleap @SamYourEyes You could bring back Ronald Reagan and he would be horrified.
Yeah, I wonder what JFK would make of this RFK who is doing bad stuff now ( or seems to be ), I would assume they would be related in some weay.
@zleap @SamYourEyes they are - JFK would be his uncle.
So what would JFK think of him?
@zleap @SamYourEyes Well I can't say what JFK would say but I can say what JFK's grandchildren are saying - and they are not happy.
White ppl's militia fantasies don't require baseball bats or batons, so guns are legal while other self defense tools are not.
Stupid laws like this have a special benefit of giving police the *discretion* to choose who to arrest (black/brown ppl). If a white person and black person are pulled over and searched & cops find plastic knuckles in the car, only 1 of them is likely going to jail. Goofy laws that make random things illegal always further white supremacy.
@zleap @jackiegardina @SamYourEyes so Australian here, why are guns covered by the second amendment but not a collapsible batton? Both are weapons that might be among the armaments of a "well-regulated militia", and the very fact that police carry both is testament to this fact. Surely the key determination should be weather you're carrying it as part of said militia, not the type of weapon?
@quinsibell @zleap @SamYourEyes I think they would look to what militias relied on when the federal constitution was written. The 1792 Act required members of the militia to have a musket and ammunition.
@jackiegardina @zleap @SamYourEyes that document also includes bayonets, swords, and espontoons. Surely a collapsible batton fills the role of prescribed hand-to-hand weaponry as well or better than an automatic or semi-automatic rifle in the role of a musket?
@quinsibell @zleap @jackiegardina
Our legal interpretation of the 2nd amendment is a complete sham. Arms for a militia could theoretically also include artillery, cannons, grenades, rockets, etc. Anything that the CIA would arm a terrorist group with.
We make up interpretations of laws to suit whoever is in power. There's no defensible logic to it.
@zleap @jackiegardina
In the US you can definitely get arrested for having a baseball bat in the trunk of your car. It is common advice to also have a glove in the trunk with the bat as that can be used to demonstrate that it is a sporting goods item and not a weapon.
Any sort of knuckles, even plastic ones, are also prohibited in many states.
It's a shitshow here.