# Law Hypothetical: Legality of SF weapons **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 12, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508 "2012-10-12T13:24:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508/21 "2012-10-15T21:46:23Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Suppose, for a minute, that your favorite or not-so-favorite weapons from science fiction suddenly became available. What would be the regulatory status of a Star Wars lightsaber or a Star Trek Type 2 phaser? Would they be legal for civilian carry in many jurisdictions to a greater extent than firearms because the laws in place regarding firearms are too specific to chemical projectile weapons to include energy weapons in their scope, leaving phasers in the same category as swords? What about a handheld railgun? You could probably nail someone with a lightsaber or a phaser on possessing an improperly labeled laser device unless you had the foresight to put on a sticker saying something like “Warning, Class III device, may cause extreme eye damage (and your head will fall off)”. The scariest science fiction weapon I can think of is [razor floss](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RazorFloss). Consider an invisibly thin unbreakable monofilament. If you walk into it, you wouldn’t even know until your torso fell apart. Throw a tangle of it at an enemy and it’s game over. And as far as I can tell, it would be totally legal. Hey, it’s just string. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508/22 "2012-10-15T22:12:44Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Nitpick - there is no such thing as nunchucks. But how many nuns would a nunchuck chuck if a nunchuck could chuck nuns? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508/23 "2012-10-15T23:03:39Z")
> [@](#): > > And as far as I can tell, it would be totally legal. Hey, it’s just string. It’s just string in the sense that a knife is just a block of metal. Maybe, but it’s a _sharp_ block of metal. I expect that any court presented with such a case would rule razor floss to be a kind of blade, and thus subject to whatever local rules apply to blades. Given that it’s inherently concealed by nature, and that it’d have to be longer than 4 inches to be effective, I think it’s safe to say that it’d be illegal most places in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508/24 "2012-10-16T00:57:31Z")
I think it’s more like stretching a piano wire across the road. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508/25 "2012-10-16T04:56:05Z")
Generally, the “possession of a dangerous weapon” thing covers any contingency where the device appears to be used in a threat. If too many people are carrying around your proto-phasers or monofilament, and it proves impossible to simply charge people after use, too many incidents or one big high-publicity incident, or just general establishment paranoia, then the “there oughta be a law” mentality kicks in and the specific law is added to the books. IIRC it was simply paranoia that got nunchuks and throwing stars specifically made illegal weapons in Canada. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/law-hypothetical-legality-of-sf-weapons/637508.md?page=1)