Civilian Ownership of Nuclear Weapons in YN

[Nucego]

What's your status on that, NS? Are all of you anti-nuclear phantasmic fascists or a true libertarian paradise, where each is allowed the pastime of target nuking, the right to keep and bear nukes, the right to carry them openly or in a concealed manner? Anything else that'd come to mind?

Here's our story with this more than curious question that to most nations seem to think have an obvious answer. Not the case with Nucego.

After the Grand Event of Atomization in which the major powers of the world mutually assured each other's destruction, there are next to none left of the conventional large-scale nuclear weapons people understand as nuclear weapons, be they dropped from planes or launched from the planet's orbit or however else. They more or less don't exist far as we know, as don't their launch systems or production lines. We Nucegoans are frankly quite lucky that the planet itself wasn't busted in the process.

After forming Nucego, a union of self-owning, consciously egoistic individuals and a loose confederation of their settlements, we Nucegoans unlike many other communities chose to protect ourselves with the nuke. A small-sized tactical nuke catapulted from the shoulder, to be exact. Easy to use and mass-produce as the materials for them are practically everywhere, it became a staple for every Nucegoan to have at least one Fatboi^TM launcher with them and some mini nukes to go with it. Refined nuclear waste, some scrap metal and electronics for the hull and mechanisms of the launchers and bombs themselves and Nucego established its place on the wastes.

As we have practically centered our society around that ingenious piece of weaponry, rival settlements have curiously chosen to switch from exchanging bullets with us to goods and services. A welcoming improvement, to say the least. Refining the nuclear waste just sitting out there polluting was definitely worth it. In addition to the Fatboi and its mini nukes, for lack of a better term, radiological grenades and mines are another common means to defending ourselves. All aforementioned devices are produced and procured for by RecNukes Co-Operative Industries, our leading arms manufacturer and main competitor of Nukes4U incorporated.

Aside from just defending ourselves, these little nukes are so plenty in Nucego that target nuking has become a competitive sport here. A national sport with championships, even.

The Fatboi launcher is our lovechild and like any, has many names with Fat Man, Nuka-launcher, radiobazooka and Davy Crockett being the most common ones. Of course, the concept is as old as the atomic bomb itself and takes after from its previous concepts and prototypes, correcting and refining them. We hear of a similar concept developed by the metro dwellers in Russia called Project Tsaritsa's Tear, but our knowledge is limited to Russians arriving at our borders. It makes us Nucegoans happy to have comrades in arms abroad.

So if by any change you hear a fwump and see a bright light in the distance, don't worry: either some madman or -woman is getting their kicks from a power trip or a major threat to Nucego was just eliminated with a single trigger pull. Just enjoy the mushroom cloud, it's beautiful and makes you feel warm inside. Guaranteed!

Why exactly is this even a fact book question? I'm quite certain almost 99.9% of the nations do not allow civilian ownership of a weapon that is considered WMD......

Who cares? Even among them the answer is not just a simple no. There are different reasons and different ways to address the issue of recreational nukes, to be sure.

[A m e n r i a]

Nukes? How primitive, ion cannons are the norm! And no, we don't let idiots run around with them, only the imperial military has them.

[The Land of the Ephyral]

═───╡❖╞────────═ Civilian Ownership of Nuclear Weapons in the Freehold ═────────╡❖╞───═

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Despite citizenship of the highest order affording the combination of legal rights, political rights, and the right of bearing arms to those that have such citizenship, the civilian acquisition of nuclear weapons by anyone of any social class is utterly prohibited.

Nuclear weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction that exist under the control of the Freehold as a polity, with tactical nuclear weapons regarded as available weapons in conventional warfare of a highly intense nature, whilst strategic nuclear weapons are for a hypothetical scenario where the survival of the Freehold may not be guaranteed, and thus the elimination of all enemies via these weapons becomes a legitimate option.

No nuclear weapon, nor permitted biological or chemical weapon, is permitted in the hands of civilians. Whist individuals have been known to have created (illegally) weapons of mass destruction in the form of biological and chemical agents, and indeed in very rare cases, typically accidental nuclear material becomes revealed on private property, none of this is permitted and all prohibited. Material is confiscated and individual or individuals arrested.

The weapons are far too dangerous to be left in the hands of individual civilians, and must instead be managed by the mechanism through which citizens exercise their power.

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═───╡❖╞──────────────═ Article Published in the name of the Freehold of Ephyra and its Citizens by the Sphere of the Interior ═──────────────╡❖╞───═

[Constitutional Technocracy of Minecraft]

Civilian ownership of WMDs is illegal in the CTM. In the case of nuclear/radiological weapons, a special licence is required to own more than 50g of uranium-235 and any quantity of any plutonium isotope under the Radiological Materials Control Act 2038 (enacted to reduce the risk of nuclear or radiological terrorism). The only entity allowed to possess nuclear weapons in the CTM is the CTM Department of Defence.

[Charellia]

The United Federation of Charellia does not allow civilians to possess military grade weaponry under any circumstances. Nuclear weapons are tightly controlled by specialized military units and civilian use of nuclear materials for scientific or economic pursuits is strictly regulated

[UniversalCommons]

There is no official civilian ownership of nuclear weapons. All WMDs are possessed by the state. However, the Undersea Salvage and Recycling Cooperative has raised a nuclear submarine as well as recovered ships containing nuclear missiles. These have been turned over to the government for research.

[Old Beringia]

Civilian ownership of nuclear weapons is preposterous and is seen as a testament to the lawlessness that foreigners wallow in under the guise of personal freedom. The fascist party does award the privilege of owning weapons for personal use to those that deserve and are worthy of that freedom. However, such freedoms can only exist so long as they do not harm the fascist party or the state. A subject of the empire found to be in possession of such weapons would be committing crimes against the state and party. All nuclear arms are jointly owned by the state and reigning monarch.

[Purpelia]

In Purpelia private citizens can't even own a handgun. So no, they can't own atomic weapons.

[Euturia]

Ownership of nuclear arms will get you under strict supervision and interrogation. You may even be killed or forcibly resettled.

We don’t tolerate such heinous things like “private nuclear arms”.

[Eclius]

Why exactly is this even a fact book question? I'm quite certain almost 99.9% of the nations do not allow civilian ownership of a weapon that is considered WMD......

[Gandoor]

What the fuck kind of question is this, this is why people consider libertarianism a joke.

Nuclear weapons are banned in Gandoor. End of discussion.

[Estainia]

Consider expanding your OP.

It is perfectly legal to own sunbombs in the Empire provided you are Of the Blood. Ownership of nuclear weapons is dissuaded, as sunbombs are not only more effective but have fewer long term effects.

[Ritterdorf]

Nuclear weapons can be owned by civilians, but it requires a license in order to to own them.

Civilian ownerships of nuclear weapons are usually reserved for mercenaries and PMC.

[Destructive Government Economic System]

That's one... interesting question you got there...

Nope, that doesn't happen in our nation. That'll never become legal here.

[Stroulia]

Well considering the average person can't even legally use explosives of any kind, the mere thought of civilians using atomic weaponry is terrifying, to say the least.

So no, they can't. Furthermore, Stroulia has been against the use of nuclear weapons, period, and is a ratifier of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

[Vyzhva]

>civilian possession of nuclear weapons

lmao nah

[Victorious Decepticons]

Militarily, we consider the sort of weapons generally called "nukes" to be obsolete and undesirable. Nuclear fission leaves plenty of radiation, and that deactivates biological slaves we try to put to work in an area where they have been used. This is a big PITA in some instances because it forces us to do the work ourselves - and who wants to do that when you have an entire conquered population that you could otherwise put to labor?!

That said, we have nothing against nuclear fusion, and some of our most powerful personal weapons rely on it. Megatron's fusion cannon is the most famous weapon of this sort, and one of the largest that can be welded to one arm, but other sizes of fusion cannons are readily available if you have the money and are a Decepticon.

Earth-Style Nuclear Weapons

All Decepticons may own (fission) nukes and any other WMDs they can buy, make, steal, or otherwise get their hands on. In fact, Earthian nukes looted during the Decepticon-Earth War (and copies thereof) are openly for sale at the bigger syndicate stores. The only requirements to buy them are that you be a Decepticon citizen in good standing, and that you pay whatever the store is charging.

This cost factor is the only real safety measure. People rich enough to buy them are also fairly meticulous about getting their regularly-scheduled Debugging check-ups, so they're among the saner members of the population. Typically, they don't actually *use* the nukes, but instead, keep them as "trophy" pieces in their homes. Of course, if someone is foolish enough to try to invade Cybertron, the would-be invaders will find that nuke owners do know exactly how to use them for their original purpose. In fact, some have modified theirs to serve as SAMs against massive (1km-long and larger) space-fleet capital ships.

Decepticons who have been in foreign wars also tend to have other WMDs they've looted, including nerve agents, germ bombs, MOABs, various forms of energy weapons (swiped from planets far more advanced than Earth), zombification factor powder, and a huge range of other things. They typically get these things while acting as soldiers, but they are allowed to keep them as part of their personal loot.

During the original looting of an enemy planet, the Decepticon Military typically keeps all of the really powerful stuff, like nukes, for itself - at first. However, as time goes on, some of this equipment tends to make its way to the syndicate stores, whether by pilferage or through open sale by our military.

Decepticon-Design WMDs

There are no legal restrictions on ownership, though there are some on just where you get them. Stealing a modern WMD from the Decepticon Military is a very bad idea since they will come and get it back (if you manage to get off of the base alive to begin with), and will prefer to blast you to pieces in the process. However, if you copy a modern weapon, you'll only be in serious trouble if the design for that weapon was classified information. Even then, if you're merely a buyer, you'll probably be fine. Whoever stole the design, on the other hand, is guilty of espionage.

The biggest arms dealer who sells this sort of weaponry always manages to get off of the charges. He is very important to the Empire because he can not only counterfeit Decepticon designs, but enemy ones as well. Often, he gets us working versions of their stuff faster than anyone in the official channels. Usually, he doesn't use direct espionage, but instead, carefully watches how something works and then figures out a way to make it happen. Usually. For the exceptions, his value to the Empire + HUGE bribes (in the millions of Cubes or more) to Leader Megatron make the espionage charges just...go away...

Being a WMD

Decepticons have the unique capacity to BE a WMD. This is done by having heavy artillery as your alt mode. It is entirely legal to do this. It's also ridiculously expensive thanks to the extreme strength needed for the metal, the difficulty of engineering such a body so that it retains its strength despite having tens to hundreds of movable parts (all of your robot-mode parts, plus those used for the transformation, plus any needed for artillery mode), and the cost of firing a salvo of energy-based blasts. That said, High General Shockwave currently uses an interplanetary laser cannon as his alt-mode. His body's construction, maintenance, and artillery-mode firing are all financed by the Decepticon Military.

There are super-rich Decepticons, typically high-ranking members of mob security forces, who have similar (but weaker) bodies when outside the military. As you might imagine, they actually have a strong preference for fighting in robot mode to avoid having to blow off 100-300 Cubes' worth of energy per salvo. If they actually do use their full power, it's typically done to protect an off-world oil claim from other Decepticons who are trying to fly in and claim-jump. It is more typical to protect claims with regular plane-moded Decepticons or even standard SAM batteries, but the really lucrative claims get the best the claimant can come up with - and that's these guys.

Note that these are PRIVATE security forces, not military. They actually choose artillery alt-modes to be tough (which is basically our way of being cool), and are typically then recruited by various huge raiding syndicates because this makes them excellently-suited for the work - rather than starting out "normal" and being upgraded by their gangs.

[Vallermoore]

Despite our loose weapons laws, nukes are NOT legally ok for the general public.

[Baudevaux]

Absolutely not.

[Second Empire of America]

Civilian ownership of nuclear weapons is prohibited, but embarrassingly, it was legal until 2006. There was a loophole allowing commercial space flight organizations to own nuclear ICBMs. When the loophole was pointed out to the Emperor by Elon Musk in 2006, civilian ownership of nuclear weapons was immediately prohibited and punishable by life imprisonment in Alcatraz.

[Side 3]

Technically speaking, civilians can own nuclear weapons because most ships and heavy utility vehicles are nuclear powered. However, owning a straight up nuclear bomb is illegal.

[Thermodolia]

Civilian ownership of weapons of mass destruction is illegal. Only the Federal government may own and use WMDs

[Nahan]

It's illegal to have nuclear by civilian

[Unia Saul]

Nuclear weapons are stored in well-guarded secret military bases, civilians do not have access to such a dangerous weapon. We only keep it for security reasons there are many nations that have it without it, we would not have security in the event of a nuclear attack.

[Multiversal Venn-Copard]

The issue of civilian access to weaponry becomes much more complicated due to the VCMR providing mass-energy synthesizers to the public as part of its post-scarcity economy. Official policy prohibits access to military-grade weapons at all, but it only requires a small amount of tampering to put together something dangerous.

While synthesizers are locked out of producing dangerous substances in significant quantities, a sufficiently devoted citizen has theoretical access to all of the tools and information to build a moon-cracking antimatter warhead or spacial defect. Such events have indeed occurred in the past, but local military-police forces are getting faster to respond and shut down illegal operations. It is a perhaps unfortunate consequence of technological advancement that the government has had to become more authoritarian in order to ensure the safety of innocents.