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Comment by newacct583 | Hacker News Reader

> carrying a machete, a large mortar firework and a section of galvanized pipe with endcaps and fuze assembly

All items that can plausibly be weapons, and used dangerously. As others have pointed out, though, had he been carrying a .223 rifle with a 30 round magazine (an objectively more dangerous object) I can't imagine you reaching the same conclusion.

Why is a guy with a fused (but apparently not filled?) pipe bomb presumptively a "criminal" but a guy with a rifle not? Doesn't that have something to do with expression? Shouldn't that distinction be presumptively respected by law enforcement?

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There are often more restrictive laws against weapons that are not firearms because the 2nd amendment has been held to concern firearms, not weapons in general.

E.g., in Seattle any fixed blade is illegal to carry. Even chefs have to take special precaution if they want to carry their knives to and from work. Same for hunters/fishermen (fillet knives) heading to or from the wild.

In Oregon (and probably most states), it is illegal conceal most knives, except pocket knives.

Often, the same laws restricting knives cover brass knuckles, clubs, etc.

"any person who carries concealed upon the person any knife having a blade that projects or swings into position by force of a spring or by centrifugal force, any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slungshot, metal knuckles, or any similar instrument by the use of which injury could be inflicted upon the person or property of any other person, commits a Class B misdemeanor" https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/166.240

There are very different laws for firearms and what the ATF calls a destructive device (which include pipe bombs).

Ignoring the protest entirely, you will do jail time if the ATF catches you with an unregistered destructive device.

You can use a rifle to defend yourself (which is how Kyle Rittenhouse wasn't murdered by the angry mob), you can't use a destructive device to defend yourself, just to cause destruction.

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