Explain to a non-American why it makes sense to change Congress every two years!

Well if someone owns a tank and DOESN'T use it in a robbery or assault, then how could it be confiscated?

Doesn't WMD mean nuclear?

 

I would think so. But I've not exactly ever bothered to check all the laws across the country. It's not like I have a need to carry a sword around on a frequent basis. Which recalls a cool story, probably urban legend, but cool nonetheless. Remind me to tell you about the subway swordsman someday.

 

There was actually a movie that dealt with that. I'll have to try to look it up.

 

Probably can't. There are people who actually own tanks though their use is heavily restricted.

WMD includes nuclear. I was making a distinction between WMDs that are easily borne like poison gas and disease spreading vials, and those not so easily borne like an atomic bomb.

 

Yeah. Can't remember the name but starred James Garner.

 

“Tank” with James Garner.

 

Tell me about the subway swordsman.

 

Well not too badly really. Unless they are used against the types of targets intended for (aircraft and vehicles), Stingers, RPGs, and LAWs are not going to kill significant numbers of people. The thing is those types of weapons would give individuals a serious advantage over law enforcement.

 

Well if you want to get technical Americans can already make primitive WMDs on their own without legal jeopardy.

A chemical weapon from the World War 1 era. Mustard gas.

Bleach + Ammonia = mustard gas a very painful blistering agent.

 

It should be every two years with a we should add that any congressman can only serve 2 terms. We have life time appointments which is were 99.9% of our corruption comes from.

 

Nitrogen Mustard gas is also the founding father for today's chemotherapy.

 

You asked for it. Remember this is urban legend/Rennie Myth. Knowing Rennies, it's possible it could have happened, but the original are lost to time.

A guy was working the CT Renn Faire. As a worker, he got to wear his steel. Guests cannot. After Last Day, he stayed and partied with the staff till late at night before getting on the subway back to NYC, where he lived. Since it was so late, he didn't change out of his gear, but just threw his trench over it all.

After he's back in the city, but not yet at his stop, some punks get on, and demand his money.

"I think not, good sir".

Punk pulls out a switchblade and says, "I've got 6 inches that says you will."

The Rennie tosses off his trench revealing he is clad in chainmail and greaves, draws his longsword, and says, " I see your 6 and raise you 20."

He was alone again very quickly.

 

He's also undergoing political rehabilitation. I read he's thinking of running again now that voters are looking somewhere else. (Good luck with that.)

 

A single shot muskat cannot get you dead, whereas a musket just might.

 

Too bad. Franken is a repulsive person at best.

 

However true this is unlikely to be, it is utterly irrelevant

 

Actually even during the Revolutionary War some rifleman such as those serving under Daniel Morgan used a pretty sophisticated (for that time) rifle with a twin barrel arrangement. British General Fraser was killed at Saratoga by one. Likewise IIRC the Ferguson Rifle developed by the British subject of the same name was much more effective than a mere musket.

 

Time for term limits.

 

Term limits will just make a bad situation worse. It will effectively transfer power (even more than it is now) to the hands of unelected bureaucrats and lobbyists.

 

Weren't only single shots in existence when the 2nd Amendment was drafted? Maybe I'm thinking of the time of the 'founders.'

 

Don't we know EXACTLY what weapons were around?

 

How would it do that exactly?

 

I'd like to see two terms max for each; 4 years max for congress, 12 years max for senate, and the current 8 year max for president. The longer they're there, the more swamp-like they become.

 

We do. Again, irrelevant.

Some have made the argument, bordering on the frivolous, that only those arms in existence in the 18th century are protected by the Second Amendment . We do not interpret constitutional rights that way. Just as the First Amendment protects modern forms of communications, e.g., Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U. S. 844, 849 (1997) , and the Fourth Amendment applies to modern forms of search, e.g., Kyllo v. United States, 533 U. S. 27, 35–36 (2001) , the Second Amendment extends, prima facie,to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.

 

Because it takes time for new members of Congress to gain the experience and make the connections to become effective legislators. One member of Congress said he was in his second term before he knew where all the bathrooms were.

Without the institutional knowledge and connections necessary to be effective legislators, Congressman would become even more dependent on lobbyists and bureaucrats who do have that knowledge to get things done.