Frondeur
Junior Member
Offline
I'm the lead slinger in a hard rock band
Posts: 90
France
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Well...
Interpreting french laws... My guess is that slings (if used to sling and not to hang your coat, obviously...) are included in the non-pyrotech launcher category. As for the muzzle energy, we slingers spend a lot of time guessing/measuring the initial speed of our stones, and even compare KE with those of various other weapons. I guess that answers the "mouth" question that Caldou pointed out. By the way, the muzzle KE of a sling can be somewhat greater than 20 joules, with makes our little toys a class C weapon, not D...
I have harder time with the word "propulsion"... "propulser" has two different meanings (at least). If it's interpretated as "bringing the energy in the throw", well, again, a sling is a mere lever and therefore it doesn't "propulse" anything. On the other hand, "propulser" also means pushing forward, witch is exactly what a sling does. Remember that in France, an atlatl is known as "propulseur", witch would lead to this interpretation.
Obviously, the final word would be the judge's, and it would depend on the circumstances, meaning what you actualy did with your sling, the projectile used etc, but also personal beliefs of the judge, the social status of the slinger, and so on...
Oh and about different projectiles. this piece of law doesn't take this aspect in account at all...
So I try to stick to deserted places when slinging, or i try not to be seen. In some places where people around are quite friendly and well aware of what i do, I try to use slings with the louder crack, so that everyone knows what's going on. Some persons also taken the good habit to whistle or sing as they come; in that case, I just stop slinging and whistle back.
French law seems quite drastic to me. I don't fear it when slinging, being quite cautious, but I'm well aware that, should I meet other legal problems, my hobby could well be used against me. (basing on personnal and freinds experiences, and, admitedly, my own beliefs about laws in general).
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