Counterfeiting and Gold Making in Harry Potter

[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Mylon

Someone did make an earlier point about arresting someone on what they might do, that being gun laws in the UK. By itself the gun is just a tool, but possessing one is a crime based on what could be done with it. (Like this story)

Wow, no wonder the author of the story thought we'd bust Flamel in the States for just owning the Philosopher's Stone! That's some seriously draconian legislation, there...

No, here in the States, unless the item is on a very short list of banned items (hand grenades, fully-automatic firearms, and certain forms of explosives), you don't get in trouble for having something, just for misusing it. (For instance, you can make an impressive fuel-air bomb from ammonia and nitrates - but you can also make an impressive fertilizer. Arresting people for possessing ammonium nitrate because it could be used to make a bomb would leave us pretty hungry after a while...) The soldier in the story, had he been in the States, would have been congratulated for turning in the sawed-off (illegal in most municipalities), and in some places rewarded, with no questions asked about where it came from.

Note further that it is possible to get federal licenses to possess most of the banned items, as well - I know a collector with a federal license for full-auto weapons. Under the Brady Bill, he tells me, it became a crime if he ever placed the magazine into his Uzi...

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Wow, no wonder the author of the story thought we'd bust Flamel in the States for just owning the Philosopher's Stone! That's some seriously draconian legislation, there...

Backed up by Draconian police, a Draconian Crown prosecutor, and a Draconian jury.

Next time that bloke finds an illegal weapon he'll sell it on the black market: might as well be hanged for a sheep as hanged for a lamb.

[MKMcArtor]

Originally Posted by Irish Wolf

Note further that it is possible to get federal licenses to possess most of the banned items, as well - I know a collector with a federal license for full-auto weapons. Under the Brady Bill, he tells me, it became a crime if he ever placed the magazine into his Uzi...

Without the proper license, it's illegal to simply own the conversion kit to change your AR-15 from semi-auto to selectable full-auto. That's just another extreme example, though. The normal semi-auto AR-15 is still legal.