Why not Legalize Tow Missiles? Because it's a war weapon. I see.

[ksoze]

Do we need to lobby for Tow missiles to be legal? It would run into objection by even the right as being a war machine that can kill many people at once. You don't say....

[Reiyuki]

1. Discriminate vs indiscriminate weapons

The primary reason why full-auto, explosive, and biological/chemical weapons are banned for civilians is because they do not discriminate (ie: cannot be 'aimed').

Weapons that are area-effect are generally banned. It's actually a pretty good rule-of-thumb.
'If you can't aim it you can't possess it.'

[Orsino]

3. Yeah, you could kill someone with those things. n/t

[Reiyuki]

4. But enough about Mike Tyson's fists n/t

[Calista241]

2. indiscriminate and crew served weapons are generally classified as

“Ordinance” and not “small arms.”

This applies to Missiles, artillery, and heavier weapons.

[fescuerescue]

5. They are legal in most states actually

Same process as buying a machine gun. $200 tax, LEO sign-off, FBI background check etc.

It's probably harder to find a seller though and I bet it cost easily 6 figures.

[NickB79]

10. Correct. The missiles are the restricted portion

A missile launcher without ammo is just a metal tube with a scope and trigger.

Same reason you can legally own a grenade launcher or tank, just not the ammo.

[Pope George Ringo II]

6. Congress has the power to grant "letters of marque and reprisal."

For those not up on age of sail oddities, that's basically government-sanctioned pirate ships. Never mind little stuff like anti-tank weapons, civilians need anti-ship weaponry so Congress can fully exercise its powers. Bring on the Harpoon missiles! Either that, or repeal the Second Amendment.

(BTW, Congress has never granted one, to the best of my knowledge.)

[sarisataka]

7. Marque and reprisal

is included under powers of Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It is independent of the 2nd Amendment. On issuing such a letter, Congress could direct the navy to supply a ship owner with Harpoon missiles.

It appears at least one letter was issued in 1815 during the Second Barbary War for the brig Grand Turk, but never used.

[Pope George Ringo II]

8. I had never heard of that one. Thanks for the info.

I still think it's not entirely independent of the Second Amendment. If nothing else, it's a pretty clear indication that the Founding Fathers envisaged armed civilians with serious firepower. If you truly want to limit civilian arms use, I really think you still have to amend the Constitution.

[underpants]

9. I fired a few from a Bradley Fighting Vehicle

They make big BOOM!

[struggle4progress]

11. If the crowd in Las Vegas had had these, they could have brought down the hotel!

[JoeStuckInOH]

12. Because they're outdted and so 1970s... The Javelin is where it's at. Get with it.

Javelins are actually man-portable by a single person, fire and forget, bigger/better warhead, use top-attack profiles against ground targets but also have anti-helicopter capabilities in direct fire mode, they're about 20% cheaper per-missile than the TOW, and have soft-launch (can be launched from inside a room or confined space... like from the 32nd floor window of a hotel).