I don’t think this’ll fly in court. It requires a suspension of belief that the Framers felt that arms should be freely available but the ammunition should not. Clearly, the word “arms” encompasses both the weapon and the ammunition it uses - otherwise the weapon itself is useless except as a paperweight. This is the U.S amendment we’re talking about. Personally, I think any discussion of weakening a U.S Amendment is dangerous. This time it’s the 2nd Amendment, but what happens if the next time its the 13th, 14th, or 15th?
It’s intentionally difficult to change our constitution - any major change is almost doomed from the beginning. If we can’t get a 2/3’s majority to agree on something, then society hasn’t changed enough to justify an amendment. That’s the way we set it up and that’s the way we like it. Only been 15 or so since 1800, and two of those cancel each other out.
As divisive as the issue is, I don’t see the Second being altered Constitutionally. The courts interpret it to fit the times, but there would be vigorous opposition no matter whether the 2nd was to be strengthened or weakened.
I remember a gun shop fire in Fort Myers, FL about thirty years back; the sheriff’s department ordered the immediately surrounding area evacuated and closed off. That particular shop had a lot of gunpowder for the re-loading enthusiasts on hand and that, more than projectiles, was probably the reason for the evacuation. Even so, I don’t remember that any sort of major explosion occurred. And, the fire department stayed on the scene and fought the fire; there wasn’t any sort of pull back and let things happen going on.
Oh, and for the record, tossing ammo into a fire is a rather common pastime. There’s a little bang and the brass usually hits the fire ring (having less mass than the bullet it travels farther).
Furthermore, Mythbusters did an ammo-in-the-oven thing and reached the same conclusion. It’s not exactly safe, but it’s far less dangerous than a loaded gun in a fire.
I witnessed the disposal of several pounds of smokeless powder through burning. No explosion, of course, since smokeless powder isn’t an explosive. What it does do is generate a lot of intense heat and give off huge volumes of hot gas. In a shop fire like LouisB describes, numerous cannisters of the stuff going up would act as one hell of an accelerant.
