[ RadSafe ] xray WMD

[clayton bradt]

Sticking up a bank with a fake gun is still a robbery with a victim.
Conspiring to commit a crime that is physically impossible is a different
matter.  Unlike the fake gun in a robbery, the "death ray" was never built
or deployed.  In my conception of justice, mere intent to commit mass
murder should not be enough to convict (a thought crime), there should also
be a credible chance of success.  Had this person been constructing a Vodoo
doll with which to commit mass murder, would he have been guilty of a
crime?  I think not.  If the law would say otherwise, then the law is an
ass.

Clayton Bradt
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original post:

"I first would ask my colleagues in the NYPD, if they could charge a suspect
with armed robbery, if he were to have used a fake gun, and make it stick.
You could use the answer to that question to scale up to the level of harm
these guys intended, seems to me.  Wouldn't it be fine if the overwhelming
majority of terrorists were as incompetent as this duo?"