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Comment by vkou | Hacker News Reader

I'll point out that it's very easy to disable other menaces to society, like personal automobiles, by just booting them.

I don't consent to having to deal with automobiles in the city... They pollute, they make a lot of noise, they are a life-threatening danger to other street users, and many people operate them very poorly.

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Does "booting" mean clamping, ie. locking a metal thing to the wheel of the vehicle? In the UK booting means kicking so it read quite funny to me.

Unfortunately, in some places (like the UK) clamping a vehicle you don't own is illegal even if it's on your private property. Cars are heavily subsidised and the huge external costs absorbed throughout society.

Also, kicking a vehicle, which could at most cause superficial damage, is not considered an acceptable way to signal to the driver in any situation, even if you feel your life or body is in danger. I don't fully understand why this imbalance exists.

I've long dreamed of a portable device that can produce an electromagnetic pulse capable of disabling a car. It really only seems fair that if they can disable me I can disable them.

I think booting here is a metapher to get rid of them all (by laws probably and not by fire).

given that they are talking about disabling the car, they almost certainly mean "booting" in the sense of "to attach a wheel clamp"

Yes a "Wheel Boot" is another term for a wheel clamp, and "booting" is the act of attaching it. Booting can also mean to kick in the US, fwiw. I suppose I could say "I was so frustrated that the police booted my car, that I booted my car in the boot and hurt my foot!"

at a local college town, several young men got into an argument leading to a fist fight. One of the guys was a current athlete star in American football, so we can imagine he was muscular and in peak condition. A rival got into an ordinary car and backed into the athlete, who was [strong|drunk|stupid] enough to try to physically challenge the car moving one meter. The athlete had both legs broken, and the guy driving was "in trouble" .. so there is some context for future auto rodeo players.

You can disable all sort of bad stuff from robbers, junkies, rapists, aggressive dogs... by carrying weapon for self defense.

What will you do to an agressive dog in the middle of a city/town if you have a loaded firearm?

Pet it, and politely ask it to leave.

> You can disable all sort of bad stuff from robbers, junkies, rapists, aggressive dogs... by carrying weapon for self defense.

Also kids knocking on your door, or people pulling into your driveway, or people shopping in a grocery store three hours away, or

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