REALLY silly question

[Strings]

Hey... question was posed at work today, and I'm not sure if I know the answer. So, I figured I'd bring it to the minds here...

So... CAN US citizens own nuclear weapons? If so, would that fall under the heading "destructive device" (for ATF paperwork)?

 

[rms/pa]

civilian ownership,storage and use is handled by the NRC(nuclear regulatory commision). the NRC sets standards and licences for "peaceful" use of
materiel.
since nuc ordinance has no "peaceful "use they are verboten in civilian hands.
there have been proposals to use nuc's to dig a sea level canal across Nicaragua but the retch factor prevents any logical consideration of it.

rms/pa

 

[Joejojoba111]

The Soviets did some large-scale nuclear excavation projects, iirc. And there were several usages proposed for in America (peaceful construction uses proposed by Americans, to clarify).

 

[RyanM]

It's possible to use nuclear warheads for spaceship propulsion.

http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/orion.htm

I remember reading that NASA has quietly restarted research into that. They appear to be calling it "External Pulsed Plasma Propulsion" now.

 

[slzy]

Tenn-Tombigbee project was one considered

 

[22-rimfire]

Private ownership of weapons grade nuclear material is very illegal.

Give you an example of something that actually happened.... a guy I know was unpopular with the locals due to his business activities. A local called the BATF or State Police saying that this person had "machine guns" in his vehicle and had heard them being shot regularly at a job site. (FYI: It was a union thing. It is easy for the feds to check if the person in question has legal ownership of fully automatic firearms.) A day or so later, this person was converged on by numerous police at a location that would have been difficult for him to defend himself if he actually had the guns. Law enforcement were very rough in their handling. He didn't have any Class III firearms.

Just think of the reaction of the authorities if nuclear weapons are involved??

 

[Joejojoba111]

Lol, the thing about bullies is that... well, I saw this star-trek episode where this salesman goes "Peace -, through superior firepower!"

 

[Strings]

What sparked this was a comment SOMEWHERE about a town in IL that outlawed nukes. Got me to thinking: couldn't you claim it was for collector purposes ("Significant weapons of history"? "Complete collection of weapons of WWII"?)? Have to be liscensed as a destructive device (similar to grenades, only moreso). And, of course, just applying for the liscense would probably earn you the sustained attention of every alphabet-soup organization in the US gooberment. But still...