Potato Bazookas 672
Zog The Undeniable writes "The latest craze in Germany is "Kartoffelkanone" or potato bazookas. These use hairspray ignited by a spark to fire potatoes at colossal speeds. The authorities are not amused." Everyone needs a hobby I guess.
California has banned these (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Behind the times... (Score:5, Insightful)
A couple dozen kids playing with the things is simply annoying. When you get thousands, the statistics start to catch up with you.
When they start being 'in', the nature of the problem also shifts. You start to leave the domain of 'geeks playing with tech' and get into the realm of 'jocks playing with weapons'. It's a completly different mindset -- one with far less interest in (or even knowledge of) safety.issues.
A geek firing a cement-filled cannister at a brick wall is one thing. A jock firing a cement-filled cannister at his favorite geek target is another. The first death from one of these things is not going to be pretty.
Re:California has banned these (Score:2, Insightful)
I miss being able to play with firecrackers and bottle rockets that we could buy at any street stand around.
If we misbehaved we were spanked, no questions asked (or child abuse laws thrown at our parents)and there were no such idiotic things like ADD, ECD, etc. (Hey, We're kids, we're SUPPOSED to have a lot of energy, right?)
I remember fondly riding my bicycle around WITHOUT a helmet! Hell, if you did wear a helmet you were a major sissy and seriously teased for life!
We used to be able to ride around town in the back of our freinds pickup yelling our heads off and mooning passing cars as the passengers laughed at our lunacy.
I remember spending my summers in Santa Cruz surfing, laying in the warm sun on a clean beach, and hanging with friends on the Boardwalk flirting with chicks.
I miss the days when we could go to bed on hot summer nights with all the windows open in the house or sleep out in a tent in the backyard, listening to the crickets and watching for shooting stars until we fell asleep.
Ah, life as it was, fond memories....until Liberalism came and yanked California into the hell we are now.
Are you happy?
Stupid fucking Liberals....
jwf
Re:Why this is newsworthy... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Behind the times... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Odd. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Obligatory letter from the ATF Re: Spud Guns (Score:3, Insightful)
Exact Spiegel online link (Score:4, Insightful)
At the bottom there also is a link to the corresponding Spiegel TV video [spiegel.de]. It's called Die Rückkehr der Kartoffelkanone (Return of the potato gun / cannon), so that indicates already that this kind of weapon isn't exactly new. But that shall not keep everyone here from making fun of Germans!
No potatoes? that's already proven (Score:4, Insightful)
That said, you are seeing the true meaning of the American 2nd Amendment: each amendment prohibits the government from trying to do something that is highly stupid, because it can't.
Governments that try to violate those principles get away with it for a time -- but either they learn, or they fall, or the country fails.
In the case of the 2nd Amendment, you can't prevent people from defending themselves; and arming themselves is part of that.
Come on tyskland...build ARTILLERY (Score:2, Insightful)
I can't beleive ze germans are actually injuring people.