Peter Bindels wrote:

> If you require a license to fire a gun, and you have a gun, you're not
> necessarily breaking the rules. 

You may need a license to own a gun, and then the situation is different.

> but if you don't use the gun to shoot (say, hanging laundry from it)
> you'd be fine.

That's why often the law requires a license to own a gun (rather than to
fire it): it's basically assumed that you don't buy a gun to hang your
laundry :)  And the burden is on you to show otherwise. Which is not
completely irrational.

Similarly with the TV licensing. You may take into account that probably
most of these laws were made at a time where watching public TV was the
only probable use for a TV set (long before DVDs or VCRs or cable or
satellite TV or using a TV set for hanging laundry from it became
widespread or even available -- yes, there was such a time, and some still
live to testify it). At least that's the case for Germany.

Gerhard

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