A Michigan court says there's no constitutional right to possess brass knuckles in the state. It is a weapon typically associated with violent ambushes in dark alleys and banned in nearly two dozen states.

The Michigan Court of Appeals, in an 18-page opinion, declined to interfere with a 1931 law that carries a five-year prison term for simply having brass knuckles, also known as metallic knuckles.

A “ban on the possession of metallic knuckles falls within the historical tradition of prohibiting the concealed carry of metallic knuckles as a dangerous and unusual weapon,” Judge Christopher Murray wrote in a 3-0 opinion Tuesday.

Brass knuckles are usually a single set of rings that fits on someone’s hand. A punch can inflict serious injuries.

  • uuldika@lemmy.ml
    31·
    1 day ago

    you can buy an AR-15 in any gun store. they even make a “JR-15,” for kids. no, I’m not kidding.

    • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
      72·
      1 day ago

      AR-15 isn’t an assault rifle. The A stands for Armalite. The assault rifle version of the AR-15 is called the M16 and it’s illegal.

      • uuldika@lemmy.ml
        5·
        20 hours ago

        you’re right, apparently. from Wikipedia:

        The U.S. Army defines assault rifles as “short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges.”

        AR-15 is semi-auto rather than selective fire, so it’s not an assault rifle. I had mistakenly conflated assault rifles with “assault weapons,” which is a separate (and more vague and contested) term.

        you can still buy an M-16 or AK-47, but it has to be transferrable (grandfathered in before FOPA) and you need extra paperwork.

        • the_crotch@sh.itjust.works
          4·
          14 hours ago

          Lots of people make the same mistake. Clinton did this on purpose, so people would believe the 1994 assault weapon ban actually did anything of value.