more on anti-terror laws may kill rocketry hobby

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2003 14:00:56 -0400
To: dave () farber net, ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] anti-terror laws may kill rocketry hobby

As someone who built a rocket or two in the style Homer Hickham described,
when I was a child in the mid 1960's:

1) does not the second amendment apply here?   Why is the NRA refusing to
protect rocketry hobbyists with the same zeal as it does hunters?   A
rocket and a gun ought to be protected equally (as arms and as useful
tools).   The gun has no special status - the constitution of the US does
not refer to "guns".

2) that said, certain types of amateur rockets are capable of exploding
much as do pipe bombs.   The kinds Hickham and I built (with steel cases,
zinc and sulfur solid fuel) are quite different than the Estes hobbyist
rockets.   But each kind teaches interesting things.

A sensible response is to regulate the different types of rockets
differently.

But in fact there are such regulations, today.   LE (low explosives, a
technical term to differentiate rocket engines from HE such as dynamite)
are regulated, their transport is regulated, etc.

And if you really want to get scared, radio controlled model aircraft are
capable of carrying both anti-personnel bombs and bio/chemical weapons.

Should we get excited and ban hobby model aircraft?   Perhaps banning the
radios that operate them?

Perhaps we should ban nailguns because they can be used to shoot
bullet-like projectiles, if misused.

Ultimately the problem with trying to define what a tool of terror might be
comes down to a judgement.   The judgement that there is little value to
hobby technology is often just the bias of the ignorant.   No rocketry
hobbyist has become a terrorist overnight.


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