A Right To Bear Virtual Arms? 201
theodp writes "In the world of virtual goods, reports GeekWire's Todd Bishop, it looks like there's no such thing as a Second Amendment. According to a forum post by an Epic Games community manager, a new policy will remove 'gun-like' items from Microsoft's Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace on January 1. The policy reportedly applies to accessories for the avatars that represent Xbox Live users, not to games themselves, and owners of virtual weaponry like the Gears of War 3 Avatar Lancer purchased before the policy goes into effect will be permitted to continue to wield them."
Re:Why? (Score:4, Informative)
No one grabbed your guns. You can still display your avatar at home, or on the Internet. You just can't do it on the Xbox network, a privately-run network.
The same thing will happen if you go to a night club in Texas. You may have the right to carry a concealed weapon in public, but as soon as you want to enter a privately-run property like a night club, or a titty-bar, you have to drop off your guns at the gun check-in like everybody else, or just choose not to enter the establishment in the first place.
Re:Bad analogy... (Score:4, Informative)
Which is why the push by government to continuously privatize state resources is so freaking scary. If you look at what's been going on for the past couple of decades hear in the U.S., its all about privatization.
No, the push to continuously privatize state resources is scary because corporations control our government. Otherwise some of that could be a good thing, because bureaucracy inherently tends towards inefficiency over time. And anyway, it's quite irrelevant; California used to have laws protecting the citizen's right to carry a firearm in any public place, but now we not only lack that law, but we have explicit laws prohibiting carrying them in many places. In fact, in California even hunters' rights to carry arms are abrogated; you're not permitted to carry any weapons with loads inpermissible for game, or any weapons you're not allowed to use on a particular sort of game. If you're out hunting for big game in California, it is actually illegal to carry your properly licensed concealed 9mm personal defense weapon; likewise if you are bowhunting, you're legally required to leave your .45 in the vehicle even though on public lands you may find yourself standing in the middle of someone's illegal grow op holding a bow and looking stupid while they unlimber their AKs.